My Safe Haven
by No-ThisIsAlex
Summary: Ulquiorra's imagination is the only place he can escape from the horrors he faces every day at home. Will he ever be able to find such a place in reality? GimmUlqui please review, the story is better than the summary i promise. Rated T for now. may change.
1. My Safe Heaven

**Author's Note**

I got the idea for this from a dream that I had. Enjoy!

**Chapter 1**

**My Safe Haven**

_Large fields of long grass and wild flowers swayed in the wind. A warm breeze caressed my skin as it whipped around me making my hair a mess on the top of my head. I smiled up at the sky above me drinking in the sight of the fluffy white clouds floating over my head. This was it, this was my happy place. Most of the time I call it my safe haven, it's the place I go when I don't have anywhere else. When I'm unhappy this is the place I go to seek refuge from the world around me._

"Ulquiorra Cifer, get your scrawny ass out here now!" his father's voice nearly shook his bedroom walls as he stood in the hallway yelling for his son. Ulquiorra took a deep breath and opened his eyes ripping himself away from the quiet place that he had been all morning. When he finally did come to he found himself standing in front of his mirror half dressed for school. He quickly grabbed his uniform shirt and pulled it over his head before walking out into the hallway where his father was standing.

"Sir?" he asked as he slowly made his way over to where his father was standing. The cold green eyes that the two men shared were locked in an intense staring match as they stood in front of each other in complete silence.

"Don't sir me, you know why the hell I'm callin' you out here." He said in a loud, cold voice. The red color in his eyes coupled with the unsteady way his body swayed told Ulquiorra that his father was fighting a losing battle against a hangover he had obtained from drinking the night before. Ulquiorra's gaze shifted back and forth from his father to the floor in between them trying not to make complete eye contact with the man that he knew was sure to get angry if he caught him staring. The teenager nodded timidly before he tried to duck past his father to the stairs. The larger man lifted his arm and pushed his son against the wall nearly knocking down the few family photos that were hanging above Ulquiorra's head. Ulquiorra cringed at the pain that was now running through his shoulder where he hit the wall.

Without another word Ulquiorra walked into the kitchen and started making breakfast for his father. He hurried to make the meal as fast as he could so that he wasn't late for school. He frantically looked back and forth from the pan in front of him to the clock on the top of the stove. He only had 15 minutes to get to school before his perfect attendance record was permanently ruined.

"Dad I have to work this afternoon, so I won't be back until late tonight." He said quietly as he held the plate of food in front of his father.

"Yeah, whatever," He said before snatching the plate and fork away from his son. He turned to the TV and began shoveling food into his mouth. Ulquiorra nodded quickly before going quickly up the stairs to retrieve his school bag. He said nothing to his father as he walked out of the house locking the door behind him.

Once outside his home he felt like he could breathe freely without getting in trouble in some way. He pushed his hands deep into his pockets and started in the direction of his school. The walk to school was relatively quiet seeing as how he never had anyone to walk with him. Ulquiorra never kept many friends because he knew that if he did he would have to explain the extremely reckless actions of his father or why his mother never seemed to be around when he needed her to be. As a result he kept people at a distance and made sure not to draw a lot of unnecessary attention to himself.

"Are you alright?" asked a high pitched voice off to his left. He shook his head violently replaying the events that had just happened over again in his mind. He had more than enough time to move but for some reason he couldn't, it was like his common sense was telling him to move but his feet were unable to move his body out of the way. All he could do was fall back on his butt and watch as the shiny black sports car came screeching to a halt in front of him. He blinked a few times finally able to make sense of his jumbled thoughts. He felt someone's hand on his arms as a few of the people around him pulled him up to his feet. Ulquiorra gently pulled away from his fellow classmates that had actually bothered to help him from the ground.

"Thank you." He said quietly before he dashed into the school as fast as he could. Ulquiorra was never one to marvel at the times that other people called miracles, he had escaped death so many times that now it didn't even come as a surprise to him. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't die, it was like he couldn't die until he had accomplished everything set out for him in life.

Even though the building was buzzing from the scene that had just gone on outside Ulquiorra was able to make it to class without anyone stopping to ask him if he was okay. It was probably because most of the students he went to school with didn't even know his name. His quiet demeanor along with his abnormally pale skin caused him to nearly blend in with the concrete walls that were holding the building up.

Ulquiorra walked into class and swiftly made his way over to his desk and sat down. He removed his bag from his back giving him enough room to sink down into his chair in an effort to keep himself out of the sight of the rest of his classmates. It was like the further into his seat he sank the further away he became from the people around him. Ulquiorra ignored the conversations and loud laughter erupting from the students around him as he reached out for the place he desperately wanted to return to.

He could feel the warmth all over his body as he stared into the darkness of the black board in the front of the classroom. He had finally reached his safe haven and he wasn't coming out any time soon.

The voices around him sounded like nothing more than a faint hum to his ears. Ulquiorra could hear his teacher saying something about a new transfer student coming in from another town but paid her no mind. The information entered his ears but didn't come close from entering his brain. He didn't want to rip himself away from his happy place for one second to pay attention to whatever his teacher was saying.

"Go ahead and take the seat there next to Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra, would you be so kind as to raise your hand?" The sound of his name fully snapped him away from the trance he had placed himself in long enough to hear the instruction given. His gazed shifted down to the desk in front of him as he raised his hand over his head to guide the new student to the empty desk next to him.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur as he sat in his desk disconnected from everything that was going on around him. There wasn't anything going on in class that was an interest to him so he didn't bother paying attention to what they were talking about. After the final bell rang he rose from his seat and quietly walked from the room with not even so much as a goodbye to any of his fellow classmates.

The walk from his school to the small sandwich shop where he worked was not a long one. He was able to reach his workplace within ten minutes of leaving the school. Upon his arrival Ulquiorra was greeted by his very hyperactive supervisor Sara.

"Hey ulqui!" screamed the small black haired girl as she skipped over to where Ulquiorra was. He silently slipped his apron over his head and donned the dark green visor that was also a part of his uniform. After he stared at in silence for more than 30 seconds he finally turned to greet her.

"Hello Sara." He replied in a quiet voice that was almost too soft for her to hear. He walked past her and over to his register to turn it on. He let out a frustrated sigh as he tapped ferociously at the touch screen in front of him. The register he regularly used had been acting up all week long and today would be no different. He rolled as the machine gave a foreboding beeping sound before showing a bright red error screen and shutting down completely.

"Don't worry about it ulqui you can use my register. I won't need it today anyway." Sara said as she powered on her own register and walked away from it giving him room to stand where he had been.

"If I use yours then what are you going to do today?" He asked timidly as he began mashing buttons on the screen.

"I have to train the new employee today so I'll be showing him how to make sandwiches and clear tables." She said. Ulquiorra had completely forgotten about the new employee that was going to be starting today. Apparently their boss had acquired a new step-son over the last month and this job was a way to teach him responsibility. Ulquiorra couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes when he had found out about the new employee. In his mind if you were old enough to work you were well past the age to be still learning such things.

"And there he goes." She said as she shifted her attention from Ulquiorra to the door. The bell above it rang as whoever was on the other side walked in. Ulquiorra looked across the counter at the floor in front of him.

'Black combat boots in the middle of spring, who the hell does this guy think he is?' Ulquiorra thought to himself as he stared down at the shoes on the other side of the counter. He didn't bother lifting his gaze to look at the boy fully because there was no point in doing so; anyone who wore such things out of season as there were was clearly a cocky jackass and in other words someone Ulquiorra would like to be around. Sara on the other hand was happy to greet the new employee. She smiled and joked happily with the boy before bringing him back to the storage room to get in an apron and a visor.

Before he knew it the afternoon rush had begun and the small shop was now overcrowded with people. The once quiet shop was filled with shouts and yelling from the middle and high school students that were now entering the building. Ulquiorra went to work taking orders while Sara started to prepare them with the help of the new trainee.

When the afternoon rush finally started to calm down it was nearly closing time. Sara walked over to the front door and locked it before she flipped the sign to close and returning to her place behind the counter.

"So Grimmjow how are you liking it here?" she asked as she removed her gloves and went about covering the left over sandwich ingredients that hadn't been used during their shift.

"It's fine." Replied the boy as he removed his visor and paced it down on the counter. "It's kinda boring though."

"Well if your going to live here you're going to have to get used to a little boring, isn't that right ulqui?" she asked happily. Ulquiorra gritted his teeth at her attempt to drag him into the conversation she was having. He hates it when she does things like that. Even though she means well she knew that Ulquiorra would rather stick his hand into a clogged toilet than socialize with someone he didn't want to get to know.

"Yeah," he replied quietly before pushing the shutdown button on his register and walking into the storage room/employee break room. He still did not lift his head in the direction of the other two people in the room as he walked past them through the opened doorway.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow Sara…ulqui." The way he said his name told them that he was still unsure of where he stood with the tiny green eyed teenager in front of him. Ulquiorra knew the boy was just testing the nickname to see if the distaste between the two of them was really there or just something of his imagination.

"It's Ulquiorra to you." Ulquiorra replied coldly finally turning to look at the source of the voice that was slowly but surely starting to work his nerves. When Ulquiorra looked up he found that the boy was nearly hovering over him with a wide smile stretch across his face. His smile looked dangerous and the wild look of his bright blue eyes and hair was not something that was particularly normal. The smaller teen scowled in a disgusted manner before taking a step back to create some kind of distance between the two of them.

"I was wondering when you would finally look up at me, I thought I would never get the chance to apologize for almost running you over this morning." He walked past Ulquiorra patting the boy's cheek with his hand as he did so. Ulquiorra looked back to see Grimmjow pulling a set of car keys from the pockets of his black skinny jeans before disappearing out the door.

"Jackass," Was all Ulquiorra said as he walked out of the back door behind Grimmjow to start his journey back to his house. Sara shouted a goodbye after him which out of habit he didn't return instead he gave her a small glance back showing her that he had heard what she said. When the two made eye contact she smiled happily and waved. No matter how hard he tried that girl was going to be his friend; she was determined to make a human out of the otherwise emotionless Ulquiorra.


	2. Beautiful Green Eyes

**Author's Note**

I got the idea for this from a dream that I had. Enjoy!

**Chapter 2**

**Beautiful Green Eyes**

_There was something about those eyes, those enormous green eyes. I don't know what it is but I'm sure there's something hiding behind them. I want to know what it is; I need to know their secret. I can't put my finger on but there's something about that skinny little black haired boy that I can't get off my mind. Sure, I've seen a bunch of people with green eyes, but his were completely different. They were silent, cold; they held so much pain and sorrow. They were beautiful in a completely different way that I have ever seen before. I just want to know them; I want to know everything that makes them hurt so much. If I don't get to know them I might never be able to sleep again._

Grimmjow exhaled loudly as he slammed his head down on the pillow underneath it. He rolled over and looked at the small digital clock that was positioned on his night stand. He gave another loud sigh when he saw what time it was; it was 5:30 in the morning and he had succeeded in keeping himself up all night long. There was really no hope in trying to sleep now seeing as how he would have to get up in about another hour and a half to get ready for his second day at his new school. The sun was just starting to rise making it possible for Grimmjow to see around his dimly lit room.

"This place sucks ass, I hate it here." He said to himself as he grabbed a pillow from his bed and flung it across the room. It hit the wall with a soft thud before falling down to the floor. He frowned as he looked around the room at the stacks of boxes that were positioned in the corners of the space he was now forced to call his bedroom.

Grimmjow hated the fact that every time his mom got into a new relationship they had to move houses. He hated that he has never spent more than a year in one place and the fact that he had been enrolled in about five different schools since the start of his high school career. He especially didn't like the negative impact it was making on his younger sister Nelliel.

He turned his head and looked over at the clock again, it was 5:45 and his little alarm clock would be trying to wake him any minute now. He closed his eyes and drank in the last moments of complete silence he would get before he had to leave his bed to start his morning. As scheduled there was a soft knock on his door announcing the arrival of his usual early morning guest, he laid there and listened to the sound of soft footsteps as his little guest crossed the room and came over to where his bed was positioned against the wall.

"What is kitty looking at?" asked the small high pitched voice of his four year old sister Nelliel. He looked over to see her standing on the side of his bed with her eyes facing the ceiling trying to catch a glimpse of whatever it was Grimmjow had been looking at before she had come into the room.

"Up early again huh?" he replied not even trying to answer her question in the least bit as he reached over and patted her head. The hood of the large green hoodie she stole from him was pulled far over her head almost covering her eyes. She brought her head down to meet his gaze before flashing a smile as bright as the early morning sun that was slowly creeping its way into the sky.

"Good morning kitty." She said happily as she reached an arm out to tangle her small fingers into her brother's hair.

"How many times do I have to ask you to stop calling me that?" he replied as he reached and arm down and hoisted the small girl into the bed beside him. She sat on her knees and stared down at her brother through the darkness of the poorly lit room.

"But that's what Nel likes to call you." She replied in a whine. Grimmjow almost frowned at her when he heard her speaking. He hates the way she refers to herself in a third person, it's one of the many issues the small girl had because of the house hoping she had done at such a young age.

"Are you hungry Nel?" he asked as he propped himself up on his elbow to get a good look at her, she shook her head from side to side before she replied.

"No, Nel is not hungry yet, but Pesche and Dondochakka are. Could you get them something to eat kitty?" she asked happily as she pointed back behind her to the empty room. Grimmjow frowned at her before lying back down on the bed to stare at the ceiling again. Another issue of hers was her two best friends that she was always talking about; they were supposedly really nice, the only problem is that Nel is the only person who can see them.

The doctors keep tell them that's it's perfectly normal for a child to have an imaginary friend but what isn't normal is for said child to spend hours play hide and go seek all by herself. Grimmjow has begged his mother countless times to place Nel in a daycare so that she could be around children her age but every time he asked she refuses to do so.

"They can eat later; my only responsibility is to feed you, not those two." He said. You can defiantly add this to the long list the things that Grimmjow hates to do. Her therapist insists that the more they encourage the behavior from Nel the faster it will go away but that doesn't really seem to be working too well. No matter how much they play into Nel's imaginary friend and the monsters that she claims to see they never go away; it only gets worse.

"Alright then, Nel will leave so you can get ready." She said as she swung her small legs over the side of his bed and hopped down nearly slipping on the over-sized hoodie she refused to take off. She pulled the hood back over her head before walking out of the room closing it loudly behind her.

"I guess I have to get up now," he said as he threw the rest of his covers off of his body and finally rose from the bed. He grabbed his uniform and his toothbrush before heading across the hallway to the bathroom across from his room. After he took his shower and brushed his teeth he dressed himself in his uniform before going to inspect himself in the mirror

"I look horrible in this thing." He said as he leaned into the mirror to begin the task of fixing his hair. One would think that it wouldn't take much to get his hair to look the way it did but little do they know that Grimmjow's hair is nothing short of a masterpiece that he perfected every morning before he left the house. It took the majority of his time in the morning just to get his hair the way he liked it.

"Kitty, breakfast is ready!" Nel screamed as she pounded her fist on the bathroom door. Grimmjow opened the door to look down at the little girl on the other side.

"You don't have to yell Nelliel; I can hear you just fine if you use your inside voice." He said as he looked himself over one more time before exiting the bathroom. Nel reached up and wrapped her small hand around his wrist as she skipped down the hallway to the stairs dragging him along with her. She hopped down the stairs taking them two at a time as she rushed down to the dinning room. When she hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs she let go of Grimmjow's wrist and bolted in the direction of the dining room table. Grimmjow trotted over and lifted her into her chair before going over to his own.

"Good morning you two," Said their mother as she happily placed a plate full of food in front of each of them.

"Mommy, what is this?" Nel asked as she held up a small silver fork their mother had given her instead of the plastic spork that she normally ate with.

"It's a fork sweetie." Said their mother as she walked over to the side of Nel's chair to show her how to use it, Grimmjow already knew where this was going to end up and he didn't want to be here when that happened. He ate quickly before standing from the table to head to the door.

"I don't want this, I want _MY_ Spoonyfork!" Nel screamed. Her yell was followed by the loud crash of her plate hitting either the floor or the wall, Grimmjow didn't know which and he wasn't about to turn around to find out. The last time he did Nel was still throwing food and he ended up covered in eggs and syrup.

"Sweetie don't throw your food around like that please!" begged the frantic voice of their mother who was probably wondering how she would get the syrup stains out of the carpet before they became set in.

Grimmjow grabbed his keys form the hook by the door and walked outside without another word. He hit the button on the keys as he headed down the steep hill that his driveway was set on not knowing why he didn't pull his car all the way up to the house. Since their new house was so far away from the school his step father brought him a car do that he could drive himself. The only thing he had to do to keep his car was keep a job, keep his grades up, and stay out of trouble. Seemed easy enough right?

Grimmjow could barely pay attention to anything else as he watched the people on the sidewalks making their way to school; he didn't want a repeat of what happened the day before. As a precaution he made sure that he stopped at every stop sign and waited until every crosswalk was clear before he moved his car again. Grimmjow's heart gave a flutter when he spotted his little raven haired coworker in the crowd of people moving across the street in front of his stopped car. Ulquiorra weaved through the crowd of people and into the building before Grimmjow had a chance to blink twice.

Once everyone had crossed the street he pulled away from the stop sign and into the student parking lot. He checked and rechecked to make sure his doors were locked before he got out. Once out of the car he adjusted his book bag on his back before heading in the direction of the building.

It took him twice as long to get to his first class because every second he was being stopped in the hallway by a different girl. He decided to be as polite as possible and not roll his eyes right in their faces. Instead he chose to do it when they turned their backs and walked away. By the time he reached his class the bell was ringing right as he walked into the room. Grimmjow's eyes shot immediately to the back of the classroom where his seat was and the tiny boy sitting next to his empty desk.

Ulquiorra was sitting there staring down at the top of his desk, the position that he was sitting in made him look dead sitting up in his desk. He trotted over to his desk and sat down not taking his eyes away from Ulquiorra.

"What are you looking at?" Ulquiorra asked not looking away from his desk.

"I wasn't looking at you." Grimmjow replied as he slipped into his seat and placed his bag on the floor by his feet.

"Do you think I'm stupid, I saw you when you staring when you walked into the room." Ulquiorra replied in a dry annoyed tone.

"So you were looking at me too?" Grimmjow asked with sly smile. Ulquiorra's eyes shifted up from his desk to shoot Grimmjow a death glare. Grimmjow could have sworn that he saw the boy blush, but as soon as their eyes locked on each other's Ulquiorra looked back down to the desk in front of him.

The teacher walked in and demanded everyone's attention by giving out a worksheet on some type of math that Grimmjow had never seen before _'What the hell is this?'_Grimmjow thought to himself as he flipped the paper over on his desk. He raises his hand and the teacher came over to his desk to help him.

"I've never seen this math before, what is it?" he asked. The teacher laughed and flipped the page over again

"Ulquiorra, you seem to be finished already, could you please help Grimmjow with his work?" she asked no even waiting for Ulquiorra to replied before she walked past the both of them to her desk at the front of the classroom.

"Ulquiorra scribbled something down on a piece of paper and handed it to Grimmjow.

"Plug the numbers into this formula and it gives you the answer." Ulquiorra said as he removed his hand from the paper and went back to staring at the front of the room. He really wasn't that much helps seeing as how he only gave Grimmjow the formula, he didn't show him how to use it correctly. Grimmjow rolled his eyes as he looked down at the blank paper in front of him.

The rest of the day was spent with Grimmjow practically begging Ulquiorra to help with his work while Grimmjow refused to even look over at him. When the final bell rang Grimmjow watched as Ulquiorra bolted from his seat and almost ran out of the room. By the time Grimmjow had gathered his things Ulquiorra was already long gone. Grimmjow made no effort to catch up with him because he knew that he would see him in an hour when he went into work.

"bout time you get here hun, I need you to clear tables alright, we're really busy today." Sara said as she hustled to fill one of the many orders that were in front of her.

"Alright, I'm coming." he said as he went to the back of the shop to change into his uniform and apron. He decided to not to wear the visor seeing as how it made him look even more stupid than he already did in this ridicules uniform. Grimmjow went to work clearing left over trash and crumbs from the empty tables so that other customers could sit down.

He looked to the far corner of the shop farthest away from the door. Sitting there was a table full of kids that he didn't recognize. He could tell by the color of their uniforms that they were from a different school. They laughed loudly and cracked jokes about almost everyone that walked into the shop. Some of the larger guys got up from their seats and showed off for the girls that were crowding around the table.

"Hey, who let the homeless guy in here?" asked one of the boys as he boldly pointed the finger over to Ulquiorra who was still working on the other side of the register. His large group of friends laughed loudly as they all looked in Ulquiorra's direction.

"His uniform doesn't even fit him; he needs to make himself a sandwich instead of feeding everyone else." Said another person who was sitting among the group, Grimmjow eyes shifted up from the table he was cleaning and to the table of boys. They were one of the only tables of people in the shop and they were defiantly the loudest. There was no way Ulquiorra hadn't heard them talking about him.

"I heard he was gay, you think it's true?" asked one of the boys.

"Ha, well he defiantly looks the part." Laughed another boy, Grimmjow saw Ulquiorra roll his eyes at their comments as he continued to take one of the last orders of the night. Sara moved over to him and placed a hand on his back before leaning in to whisper something into his ear. Ulquiorra nodded and walked into the back room letting Sara take his place behind the register. Grimmjow threw the towel back on top of the bus cart and stomped over to the table where the group was sitting.

"Leave," Grimmjow commanded in a stern voice. The biggest of the group obviously the leader smiled up at him wickedly.

"But sir, we haven't done anything to be put out of your shop." He said with mocking politeness.

"Yes you have, you're harassing employees and I want you out of here." Grimmjow replied.

"Well I want to speak with the owner." Challenged the leader as he continued to smile up at Grimmjow, The sight was starting to make Grimmjow's blood boil. The longer he stood there the angrier he got. Item number 12 on the list of things that Grimmjow hates, overly confident assholes (even though some might say that he was one himself).

"He doesn't come into the shop that often but I will tell him that you want to talk to him when I get home tonight." Grimmjow replied.

"Oh, so you think since your daddy owns the shop you can just do whatever you want around here." He asked.

"No I don't think my can do whatever I want because my step-dad owns this place I just don't feel like seeing your ugly ass face anymore. Now get the hell outta here." He replied.

"We don't have to do what you say; you don't own this place anyway." Said the boy as he stood from his seat.

"So your one of the ones who likes to try their luck huh, There's always one asshole that has to get the sense beat into them before they get the message." Grimmjow asked as he started into the face of the guy in front of him.

"Grimmjow, don't do it." Sara warned as she stepped around the counter to catch Grimmjow before he did anything stupid. An arm reached out in between the both of them stopping everyone where they stood.

"Leave before I call the police," Ulquiorra said calmly as he stood in between the two men with the phone in his hand.

"Fine, this place isn't that great anyway." They said as he motioned to the rest of his friends to stand. They got up and left the shop without another word. When they had completely exited the shop Ulquiorra turned to Grimmjow with the same blank stare he always wore.

"I'm not some damsel in distress alright, I don't need neither do I want your protection." Ulquiorra said before he turned and walked away from Grimmjow. Grimmjow blinked a few times before making his way over to the counter where Sara was standing.

"What's up with him?" he asked her. She only raised her shoulders in a defeated fashion.

"He's been like that as long as I've known him. He's just a really private person and he hates to have a lot of attention on him." she said as she looked back through the open door to the storage room that Ulquiorra had just walked through.

"Instead of sitting around talking about me you should get up and finish clearing tables like you have been told." Ulquiorra said as she walked back into the shop placing his visor down on the counter.

"Damn, who pissed in your cereal this morning?" Grimmjow asked as he moved the clear the rest of the tables before closing. Sara went over and locked the door as she did every other day. After everything was cleaned and the shop was completely locked it was finally time to leave.

"See you guys tomorrow!" Sara said as she quickly made her way over to an awaiting car, she waved to the both of them as she slipped into the passenger's seat of the car. The two men waited until the car disappeared around the corner before one of them made a move. Ulquiorra turned on his heels and started down the dark street in the direction of his house.

"Uh, hey!" Grimmjow yelled after the boy.

"What do you need?" Ulquiorra replied not slowing his step one bit to turn and look Grimmjow's way.

"You know, I could give you a ride home if you want." Grimmjow said. Ulquiorra stopped and turned to shoot another death glare in Grimmjow's direction.

"I'd rather walk." He said before turning and headed farther into the darkness of the night around them.

"Suit yourself." Grimmjow said with a shrug as he turned and headed in the direction of his car.


	3. Your Number

**Chapter 3**

**You're Number**

Ulquiorra tiptoed silently into his house trying his best not to make a sound. It wasn't late but he knew that his father was already passed out from drinking his entire day away. Since Ulquiorra's father just so happened to be the lightest sleeping drunk that ever existed he had to be extremely careful not to make a sound. He stepped lightly over to the stairs before dashing up to his room not making a sound except for the shuffling of his pants as he raced up the stairs.

When he got to his room he found his mother sitting crossed legged on the edge of his bed waiting for him to return home from work.

"Hey sweetie," She said in a voice that was barely above a whisper. She smiled weakly adjusting her position on the bed so that Ulquiorra could have a seat beside her. Instead of taking the seat offered to him, he closed the door and stood directly in front of it.

Ulquiorra could tell by just looking at her that she was tired. She was still in her nurse's uniform which meant that she had either just gotten in from work or she was getting ready to leave for her next shift.

"Hey mom," he said as he watched his mother rise to her feet and slowly make her way over to him. Her step was both swift and agile; her son's graceful gate was almost an exact mirror of hers. In fact Ulquiorra was almost an exact mirror or his mother except for the deep green eyes he inherited from his father other than that he looked exactly like her.

"Did you just get in?" Ulquiorra asked as he allowed his mother to wrap her slim arms around him in a warm loving hug. It was the type of warmth he got only when he was inside of his safe haven and he couldn't get it anywhere else. Maybe that's why he enjoyed being there so much; it reminded him of the mother that he longed for on so many different occasions.

"Yes, but I'm going to be going in for an extra shift in a few minutes I just wanted to see you first." she said in a weary voice. Ulquiorra stared straight into the tired eyes of his mother. He took a second to take in the extremely tired look on her face, her eyes were being weighted down by two heavy dark bags and the rest of her face was tired.

"You're going to work yourself to death." He said in a quiet voice restraining himself from getting lost in the dark circles underneath his mother's eyes. She smiled back at him, flashing her bright aura of determination. If she wanted to go back to work then she would and no one was going to stop her.

"Why did you want to see me?" he asked quietly. She smiled again as she shoved her hand deep into her pocket.

"I bought you a present." She said. Ulquiorra couldn't help but frown down at his mother, he didn't like gifts but if his mother was giving it to him then he had no choice but to accept it.

"What is it?" Ulquiorra asked weary of what it is his mother was trying to give him. She pulled her hand out of her pocket revealing a palm sized rectangular object.

"A cell phone," Ulquiorra said as he looked down at the object in his mother's hand. If there was anything he hated more than gifts were an expensive gifts.

"Do you like it?" she asked as she craned her neck down to look into the frowning face of her son. She knew he didn't like the phone because it wasn't just any regular phone. It was one of the new touch screen phones with hundreds of fancy features and capabilities that he probably didn't need.

"How did you even afford this?" Ulquiorra asked as he watched his mother push the object into his hands. He looked up at his mother and smiled not wanting to hurt her feelings, he liked the gift but he knew that his family couldn't afford it. A phone like this was sure to have an expensive bill that would need to be paid every month.

"I bought it with the extra money I had from the extra shifts i've been working at the hospital." She said with a large smile. "And before you complain about the price, the phone wasn't as much as you think. I bought it used."

"How much is the bill?" he asked as he stared down at the phone in his hand.

"75 a month, not that much right?" she asked optimistically.

"I'll pay the bill." Ulquiorra declared.

"Oh no you don't, I want you to save your money. I'll pay it." She said. Ulquiorra shifted his gaze from the phone to his mother shooting her the same look of determination she had given him a minute earlier. She smirked before taking a step away from her son; she could tell by the look on his face that there was no use in arguing with him.

"If you insist on paying then I won't stop you. Your bill is due on the 25th of each month." She said as she stepped around him and over to the door.

"When are you coming back?" he asked. Ulquiorra tried his best not to sound like a whining child but he couldn't help it. His mother leaving for work only meant that he would be alone with his father for another 12-16 hours.

His mother left his room closing the door softly behind her. Ulquiorra exhaled before going over to his bed, his laid belly down on the mattress and started exploring the functions of his new phone.

'Built in GPS, this thing has everything I need' Ulquiorra thought as he continued to look through the phone. The charger and the rest of the items the phone came with had left in a bag on his bed. After he had taken a shower and was ready for bed he placed the phone on the charger and pushed it underneath his pillow for safe keeping. If his father found his phone while he was sleeping it would probably be gone before he woke up to go to school the next morning.

The next morning he was awakened by an unfamiliar buzz coming from underneath his pillow. Ulquiorra sat up in his bed and lifted the pillow to find that his mother has taken the liberty of setting an alarm for him to wake up for school.

After spending 5 minutes trying to figure out how to shut the alarm off he got out of bed and quickly got ready for school. The less time he spent at home in the morning the better. He spent the majority of the morning with his eyes planted on the screen of his phone. He was almost oblivious to the world around him but he made sure he was paying enough attention to not get run over by a car like he had done a few days earlier.

Once he reached the school building he went directly to his classroom like he does every other day of the school year. He removed his bag and sank down into his seat. He stared in front of him at the large chalk board at the front of the room. Scribbled on the board in bright yellow chalk were the words 'science fair projects'. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes as he read the words on the board repeatedly. Every year the teacher divided the class into pairs and they completed a project for the school wide science fair. He gave when the idea donned on him that his class didn't have an odd number of student anymore. Since Grimmjow joined his class, there were now an even number of students in the class and he would have to work with a partner this year.

When the teacher walked into the classroom she slammed the door loudly to get everyone's attention. Once she had succeeded in getting it she walked over to board and started talking about everything we would be covering that day.

"So I'm going to start by letting you all choose your partner for this year's science fair project. You all have two minutes to choose a partner or I will do It for you." She said as she sat down on the top of her desk and crossed one leg over the other.

After the two minutes passed the teacher stood and walked around the room writing down the names of each pair. She stopped beside me and turned to Grimmjow with a small smile.

"Who are you working with Mr. Jaegerjaquez?" she asked as she stared down at him. He looked around the room for a second at everyone else. They all had their desks moved together to represent their groups.

"I'm working with Ulquiorra." He said matter-of-factly, he wasn't just telling this to their teacher he was telling this to Ulquiorra as well. Ulquiorra took in a sharp breath and shot a look over in the direction of the blue haired boy sitting beside him. The teacher scribbled both of their names down then returned to the front of the classroom. Grimmjow smiled widely as he slid his desk over to meet Ulquiorra's

"What gives you the right to falsely claim me as your science fair partner?" Ulquiorra asked as he watched Grimmjow moved closer to him. Grimmjow rolled his eyes as he looked at him the small boy sitting beside him. The small green eyed teen folded his arms over his chest giving his new 'partner' a look of disgust.

"You didn't have a partner already so I figured I would work with you." Grimmjow replied.

"How do you even know that I wanted a partner?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Well now you have no choice, the teacher has already written our names down." Grimmjow rested one elbow against his desk and supported his head in his hand. He watched silently as Ulquiorra repeatedly rolled his eyes when he looked in his direction.

"You might want to stop doing that before your eyeballs roll out of your head." He said calmly as he turned away from Ulquiorra faced the front of the classroom.

"Shut up." Ulquiorra said bitterly as he sank down further into his seat. Grimmjow purposefully leaned himself closer to Ulquiorra just because he knew that it made Ulquiorra uncomfortable when he did so. He smiled a little when he felt Ulquiorra squirmed next to him obviously put off by Grimmjow being so close.

When the last bell of the day finally did ring Ulquiorra was overcome with joy. This day had been one of the longest he had ever experienced. He stood from his seat and quickly made his way over to the door. He swung his bag over his shoulder stopping only when he felt his bag hit something behind him. He turned to see Grimmjow standing directly behind him holding a hand to his head.

"What the hell do you have in that thing, bricks?" he asked as he rubbed the spot on his head where Ulquiorra's book bag hit him.

"A school bag is made to hold school books." Ulquiorra replied plainly.

"Can you quit being a smart ass for two seconds so I can talk to you seriously?" Grimmjow replied as he rolled his eyes at the boy standing in front of him.

"What do you need Grimmjow?" Ulquiorra asked with another roll of his eyes. He didn't have to work today and he had to be home before he was late. He would get in a lot of trouble if he walked into the house just a minute later than he was expected to arrive there.

"Can I have your phone number?" Grimmjow asked quickly.

"Why?" Ulquiorra replied dryly

"So we can talk about the project." Grimmjow answered.

"How do you even know that I have a phone?" Ulquiorra questioned.

"Will you stop being such a hard ass and just give me the number." Grimmjow said. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes before digging deep into his pocket to retrieve the phone his mother had given him the day before. He handed the phone to Grimmjow without another word of protest. He waited in silence watching Grimmjow touch the screen of the phone entering his phone number. When he was done he handed the phone back to Ulquiorra.

"I'll text you later on okay." Grimmjow said.

"Yeah, alright," Ulquiorra replied as he walked away from Grimmjow and out of the building. It took every ounce of his self-restraint not to burst into a fit of happiness as he eyed the one contact that he held in his phone. It was the only number there except for his mother's job and her cell phone. Ulquiorra was happy though he would never admit that to anyone out loud. He was actually looking forward to receiving his first text message on his first cell phone.


	4. Cutie

**Author's note:**

I posted this chapter on Friday without noticing that I had forgotten to edit it before posting. So I took it down and redid the entire chapter over to make sure everything was the way it was supposed to be. Please forgive me for my momentary brainfart and enjoy this next chapter

**Chapter 4**

**Cutie**

Grimmjow paced his room nervously searching his mind for things to say when he called his green eyed science partner to 'talk about their project'. He already knew that he had no intention of talking about the project when he called Ulquiorra but he knew that if he didn't want the phone hung up in his face he had better have something good to say.

"What is kitty doing" Nek asked as she stood in the open doorway of Grimmjow's bedroom. Her question snapped Grimmjow from his thoughts and forced him back into reality.

"Kitty is thinking about something," Grimmjow said as he went over to the door and circled an arm around his sister like he had done so many times before. He lifted her from the ground and walked over to his bed and threw her down making sure that she landed right in the middle. She giggled as she flew through the air and landed on the bed with a soft bounce.

"What is Kitty thinking about?" Nel asked as she sat up on the bed and removed the oversized green hood from her head so that she could get a good look at her brother. He smiled down at her before throwing his body down next to hers.

"Nothing that concerns you pipsqueak," He answered. Grimmjow reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone. He laid there staring into the screen before finally unlocking it and navigating into his contacts. Nel moved even closer to him to see what he was doing.

"Don't call Nel a pipsqueak, Nel is a big girl." She said sternly. Grimmjow smiled over at the little green haired girl in front of him.

"Yes, Kitty knows Nel is a big girl." He said.

"Grimmjow, Nelliel it's time for dinner!" screamed their mother from downstairs.

Grimmjow sat up on the bed allowing Nel to jump on his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his torso as Grimmjow stood to his feet and headed out of his room. He walked with an extra spring in his step so that Nel bounced when he walked. He hoped down the stairs taking them two at a time, when he hit the last step he landed on both feet making Nel bounce one last time before they headed into the dining room.

Grimmjow's step-father was sitting at the head of the table when they reached it. Grimmjow rolled his eyes as he let Nel slip off of his back and into the chair she always sat in before he went across the table to his own seat. The three sat in silence until Grimmjow's mother walked in and began to set large platters of food down in the middle of the table.

"Yeah, Macaroni and cheese!" Nel screamed, clapping her hands at the sight of her favorite food sitting on the table in front of her. Silence fell upon them again as Grimmjow's mother finished setting the large plates down, and took her seat next to Nelliel. This is how dinner always was in his house. They would sit in silence until his step-father felt that he had to say something to completely belittle Grimmjow in as many ways as he could manage in so little time.

"So how was your first week at work Grimmjow?" asked his mother before he put another forkful of macaroni into her mouth. Grimmjow had been to several different schools throughout his high school career so naturally he had fallen into giving her the same answer whenever he was asked but work was a different story Grimmjow could never keep a job so when he got one there it was defiantly something they would discuss over dinner.

"It was fine." He replied not taking his eyes away from his plate. The only thing he wanted to do was eat his food so that he could go back up to his room and be as far away from his step-father as he possibly could.

"That Sara girl, the ship supervisor, she's a cute one isn't she?" asked a calm voice from the head of the table. The sound of this voice alone was enough to make Grimmjow want to claw his own ears off of his face. Grimmjow looked over to the head of the table to look at his step-father. Sosuke Aizen sat at the head of the table with a confident smirk, he knew that he was getting underneath Grimmjow's skin with every word that left his lips and he had no problem with that.

"She is," Grimmjow replied, he already knew exactly where this conversation was headed. He mentions a girl who was a friend of the family then tries to set him up on a date giving no regard to how Grimmjow felt about that sort of thing. He glanced up from his plate again and over at the brown haired man at the head of the table. Grimmjow felt like he could spit in Aizen's face for what he was trying to do.

"She's a very respectable girl, you should ask her out on a date sometime, she could be just what you need." Aizen said.

"The only thing I need is for you to get off my back." Grimmjow replied bitterly.

"When are you going to start showing me some respect as a father figure?" Aizen asked.

"Right around the time you get you head out of your ass and start acting like one." Grimmjow answered calmly.

"Kitty said a curse word." Nel said as she pulled on my mother's sleeve.

"I heard him, and if he values his privileges around here he won't say another one." Spat his mother as she stared daggers across the table at Grimmjow.

"Well I am trying my best, I'm just trying to see to it that you adapt to this new environment without any sort of problem." Aizen replied.

"I wouldn't have a problem 'adapting' if you weren't always trying to throw me into a relationship every chance you get." Grimmjow replied in a disgusted tone as he shoveled more food into his mouth.

"Kitty shouldn't eat so fast, Kitty could choke." Nel said through a mouthful of her own food.

"Kitty is sorry Nel," Grimmjow said placing his fork down beside his plate, he grabbed the glass of water that was sitting next to his plate.

"I really don't see a problem with me suggesting prospect wives for you." Said Aizen as he calmly took another bite of his food, the smirk never left his face as he stared over at Grimmjow.

"The problem is that you fail to acknowledge the fact that I'm not interested in any girl you try to hook me up with." Grimmjow replied sharply.

"And why not? I take great care in making sure that girls I pick out for you are very nice and respectable, and none of them are ugly, I think that is a plus." Aizen replied as if he honestly didn't know what he was doing wrong.

"Will you get the shit out of your ears and listen!? For the millionth time I'm not interested in women, at all. I'm gay and I have been since the first time you tried this stupid matchmaking bull crap." Grimmjow said, he pushed his now empty plate away from him and stood from his chair. He grabbed his dishes and brought them into the kitchen before going back up to his room.

He slammed the door behind him and went over to his bed. He reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone; he dialed Ulquiorra's number while laying himself down on the bed,

"Hello?" said a voice on the other end of the line. Grimmjow let out a relieved sigh when he heard Ulquiorra answer the phone. His was just the voice that Grimmjow needed to hear.

"Uh, hey Ulquiorra, This is Grimmjow." Grimmjow could just slap himself, how could he say something so lame he could have at least come up with something better before he dialed the number but he had no time. The phone only rang once before Ulquiorra answered so Grimmjow didn't really have time think about what he was going to say.

"Yes, I know. What do you need?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Um, I was wondering if we could….if you wanted to hang out tomorrow." Grimmjow asked.

"For the project?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Uh, yeah," Grimmjow replied. "We could meet each other at the sandwich shop and then go to the library or something." Ulquiorra let out a loud sigh, he sounded completely bored with the conversation at this point. He sounded like he didn't even want to talk to him at all.

"Is that all?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Huh?" he asked.

"Is that all you needed to talk to me about?" Ulquiorra asked again.

"Uh, yeah, I guess it is." Grimmjow replied. There was shouting on the other end of the line. Grimmjow didn't know who it was but whoever it was they defiantly weren't happy.

"Meet me at the library at noon." Was all Ulquiorra said before the line went dead.

'He hung up on me, I can't believe he hung up on me' Grimmjow thought, he threw his phone down on the pillow beside him before rising from the bed to get ready for bed.

The next morning was quiet, it was Saturday and Nel was still fast asleep wherever she was. Nelliel rarely slept in her room, most of the time she slept in Grimmjow's room but other times she would just sleep in whatever room she fell asleep in.

Grimmjow got dressed quietly so that he wouldn't wake anyone; since he didn't know where Nel was sleeping he didn't want to risk waking her. If he did she would surely beg to come along. Grimmjow knew that he had a lot of work to get done and none of that would happen if he brought Nelliel along with him.

He grabbed his keys from the hook and walked out of the front door without even eating breakfast. He was much too excited to even try to eat something; eating would only give him a stomach ache. Grimmjow walked quickly down the steep driveway in front of his house to his car. If he kept rushing like this he would end up arriving at the library early. He started up his car and drove in the direction of the library. it was a long drive, it only took about 10 minutes to get to the library from his house so he got there with a lot of time to kill before 12:00.

"Well would you look at that," Grimmjow said as he leaned forward on the steering wheel. He watched the scrawny raven hair boy head up the front steps to the library and up to the door. He moved quickly up the stairs and through the entrance of the large building. Grimmjow killed his car and climbed out.

The inside of the building was cold and silent; it was the perfect place for someone like Ulquiorra. The atmosphere was empty and very uninviting to those who had never been there before. Grimmjow pushed his hands into his pockets as he searched the room for his science fair partner. He found him sitting at a table close to the back off the building it was almost completely surrounded by bookshelves as if to section it off from the rest of the building. Ulquiorra was sitting there silently flipping through one of the book that was lying open on the table in front of him.

'He sure does work fast.' Grimmjow thought as he stood watching the other man work. Grimmjow wasn't sure if he was reading or just flipped through the pages, whatever he was doing was fascinating to watch.

"Why are you staring at me Grimmjow?" Ulquiorra as not looking away from the book in front of him, he set the book aside before grabbing another one from the table to look at.

"Do I need some sort of special permission pass to look at you?" Grimmjow asked.

"No, I just wanted to know the reason you were wasting you time staring…it's rude you know." Ulquiorra replied.

"What's rude?" Grimmjow asked

"Staring,"

"I wasn't staring I was…admiring you" he said. Grimmjow watched the boy's face go from static boredom to a look of shock. He glanced up from the book to get a look at Grimmjow.

"Admiring? Me?" he asked.

"Yeah, why does that come as such a surprise?" Grimmjow asked.

"Because I'm not really worth that much attention," Ulquiorra said shifting his eyes back down to the book in front of him to hide the red blush that was arising on his cheeks.

"And what makes you think that?" Grimmjow asked.

"Me thinking it would imply that it isn't true. I know for a fact that I am not worth anyone's time or attention." Ulquiorra said quietly. His head was facing the book so Grimmjow couldn't really see the expression on his face, but if Ulquiorra could see the look on Grimmjow's face he would surely slap himself silly for what he'd just said.

"Don't say that," Grimmjow said the tone of his voice was low and dangerous.

"What?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Don't you ever say that shit again Ulquiorra, if you weren't worth the time I wouldn't be here." Grimmjow said in a softer voice than the one he had just used.

Ulquiorra sat back in his chair and continued to flip through the book in front of him without another word. Grimmjow went over and sat in the chair across the table from him. The rest of the library visit was quiet and nothing was really accomplished. The only thing Ulquiorra managed to do was royally piss Grimmjow off by simply speaking his mind. After sitting in silence for what felt like an eternity Grimmjow decided that it was time for them to leave. He hadn't eaten before he left home on the constant growling of his stomach was starting to distract him.

"If you're hungry leave and go get something to eat." Ulquiorra said with his full attention still on the book in front of him.

"Come with me," Grimmjow replied.

"Why would I do that?" Ulquiorra asked.

"You're human right, I know if I'm hungry there's a good chance that you are too. So, come and get something to eat with me." Grimmjow asked.

"I can't." Ulquiorra replied.

"Why not?" Grimmjow asked.

"I don't have the time, I was told to be home before 5 o'clock and its 4:30 already." Ulquiorra said. He closed all of the books and collected them into his arms. He returned the books to their places on the shelves before heading for the door.

"If you aren't going to let me buy you dinner then at least let me drive you home." Grimmjow said as he struggling to keep up with Ulquiorra as he snaked his way around the large bookshelves in the library to get to the main door.

"How many times do I have to tell you no before you realize that I meant what I said?" Ulquiorra asked. He was standing right in front of the door about to walk outside.

"And how many times do I have to ask before you realize I'm not going to give up that easily?" Grimmjow retorted with a confident smile.

"Fine," Ulquiorra said pushing the door open and walking out of the building. He slowed his step drastically so that Grimmjow could catch up to him. Grimmjow opened the passenger's side door allowing Ulquiorra to get inside before he closed the door and went around to the driver's side.

"Where do you live?" Grimmjow asked as he placed the key into the ignition and started the car.

"7798 Spinners Street" Ulquiorra said simply. The ride to Ulquiorra's house was just as quiet as their visit to the library.

"It's the third house on the left." Ulquiorra said after Grimmjow made a left on Spinners Street. Grimmjow stopped the car in front of Ulquiorra's house next to the mail box. He opened his door carefully so that he didn't dent it on the mailbox; he walked over to the other side and opened the door.

"You know I am perfectly capable of opening my door myself." Ulquiorra said as he stepped out of the car.

"I'm just trying to be polite." Grimmjow replied.

"I don't want your courtesy Grimmjow." Ulquiorra replied as he tried to move around Grimmjow to walk away from him. Grimmjow sidestepped and placed his body directly in Ulquiorra's path. They continued this little dance for a little over a minute before Ulquiorra finally lost the little patience that he had left.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ulquiorra asked.

"I want to talk to you." Grimmjow replied.

"About what?" he asked in an annoyed tone. Grimmjow leaned forward and placed his hands on the hood of his car on either side of Ulquiorra's body. The smaller green eyed boy sank back against the car trying to create some kind of distance between the two of them which was almost impossible because of how close their bodies were.

"Haven't you ever heard of personal space?" Ulquiorra asked as he turned his face away from Grimmjow's gaze. This only made Grimmjow lean closer to him to recapture his gaze.

"You're worth a lot more than you give yourself credit for." Grimmjow said simply.

"You say this as if it's some irrefutable fact." Ulquiorra said as he turned even farther away from Grimmjow in an effort to hide his blush.

"It is, anyone with a brain knows it." Grimmjow replied.

"Just because you believe that doesn't mean that it's true." He said sternly, Grimmjow balled his hand into a fist and banged it hard against the hood of his car making Ulquiorra jump at the loud noise it made.

"You're a lot more important than you give yourself credit for." Grimmjow said grabbing Ulquiorra by the chin and forcing him to look up at him. Ulquiorra's eyes were different now; they were the same cold dead eyes Grimmjow was used to seeing when he looked at the boy. His eyes were alive now and full of fear and behind that was anger. Grimmjow released Ulquiorra and took a step away from him.

"If you ever touch me like that again it will be the end of you." Ulquiorra said in a low dangerous tone as he stepped around Grimmjow and walked around the front of the car. Grimmjow smiled, there was something truly scary about the threat that he had just received but the thought of someone like Ulquiorra causing him any type of harm was somewhat amusing.

"Hey, Ulquiorra," Grimmjow said leaning against his car again.

"What," Spat Ulquiorra in a bitter reply.

"You don't look like much normally but your actually kinda cute when you get mad." Grimmjow said with a cocky smile

"You're a jackass." Ulquiorra replied as he spun around quickly and headed up the front steps to his house

"I know, see you on Monday ulqui." Grimmjow said as he rounded his car and went over to the driver's side door. He smiled when Ulquiorra made a loud disgusted noise in the back of his throat before disappearing into his house. Grimmjow smiled as he started his car and drove home smiling the whole way there.


	5. Please Stop

**Chapter 5**

**Please Stop**

_I was there again; I was in the fields. I sat cross legged in the middle of the beautifully overgrown patch of land. A calm breeze whipped through the air shaking petals from the flowers around me. I wanted to smile but something was wrong, it was too hot. The suffocating smell of a burning fire surrounded me and in a second everything was replaced. Instead of be surrounded by flowers I was surrounded by a large wall of red, orange and yellow flames. Why? Why is this happening?_

Ulquiorra shut his eyes tightly trying to rid my mind of the flames but when he opened them again they were still there only a lot smaller and a lot closer than he had been before.

"Answer my question you little fag!" screamed his father as he forced his son's head closer to the lit burner on the stove In front of him. Ulquiorra was able to brace himself right before his head was forced down right on top of the blazing hot burner.

"Why the hell are you late?" asked his father in a low dangerous voice.

"I-I'm sorry, I lost track of time and missed my curfew." Ulquiorra replied. His father released the back of his head causing Ulquiorra to tumble backwards onto the floor behind him. he walked over and pressed his foot down on Ulquiorra's stomach. Ulquiorra took in as deep a breath as he could manage with the heel of his father's foot planted firmly in his stomach underneath his ribcage.

"You know, every time I start to think otherwise you prove me wrong. I'm really started to believe that I've raised a retard for a son." He spat down at Ulquiorra. It took everything Ulquiorra had not to laugh right in his father's face. Raise was a serious overstatement of the overall influence that he played in his son's life.

"I'm sorry." Ulquiorra said in a dry monotone. He didn't want to say anything that would further anger his father. The heavy boot sitting on top of his stomach could surely break a rib with enough force.

"Damn right you are." Said his father as he lifted his foot from Ulquiorra's body and stomped out of the kitchen.

"Make me dinner." He demanded in a loud voice before he sat down in the place where he spent most of his time, his chair. Ulquiorra stood up from the floor and went over to the sick. He washed his hand in warm water and grabbed some napkins to dry his hands. Before he threw the napkin in the trash he passed it over his face to make sure he wasn't bleeding.

He finished dinner and delivered a plate full of food to his waiting father. He went back into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the top shelf; he opened the bottle and brought it to his father before running up the stairs to his room.

He laid down on his bed and curled into a ball wrapped his arms around his knees and pulling them up to his chest. He laid there for a while before he rolled over and faced the wall falling asleep without even eating diner.

The next morning Ulquiorra woke up and went directly to the bathroom. His pale skin was bruised all different types of blacks and purples. Ulquiorra leaned a long time ago that make-up was his best friend. He went underneath the counter and grabbed one of the little bottles of hidden makeup that he had stowed away in his bathtoom.

He covered up the bruises as best he could before finishing getting ready for work hoping that his Sunday shift would be as quiet as they usually were, but with Grimmjow working the same shift there wasn't a very big chance of that. He left the house before his father was even awake, in no way did he want to risk running into him while he was still hung-over.

Ulquiorra's heart skipped a beat when he saw the shiny black sports car parked in the same place it had been last night. He let out a loud sigh before walked across his lawn to the driver's side door.

"Good morning lab partner." Grimmjow said with a big smile as he rolled down the window to greet Ulquiorra.

"What are you doing here?" Ulquiorra asked in a uninterested monotone. He didn't really have a problem with Grimmjow being here, he didn't want his father seeing Grimmjow for any reason.

"Seriously is it a crime for me to want to see you?" Grimmjow retorted, the expression on his face going from content to annoyed in about 1.2 seconds.

"No it isn't a crime, I was just curious." Ulquiorra replied.

"Get in and I'll tell you." Grimmjow said flashing a bright smile.

Ulquiorra said nothing as he walked around the front of the car to slip into the passenger's seat of the car. He buckled his seat belt the slid down into the seat in an effort to make himself as small as possible.

"Sitting like that could hurt your back." Grimmjow said not taking his eyes away from the road. His green eyed lab partner drew in a deep breath as he straightened himself up in the passenger's seat.

"Happy?" he asked.

"Overjoyed," Grimmjow replied bitterly.

When they reached the shop Ulquiorra dug into his pocket and grabbed his keys. Sara had to attend some type of family gathering so she wouldn't be in the shop today. Ulquiorra was going to be alone with Grimmjow for about 5 hours but he hasn't decided if that was a good thing or a bad thing yet.

"So you're not gonna say anything the whole entire time we're here?" Grimmjow asked as he finished another order and passed it over the counter to an awaiting customer.

"I'm working Grimmjow, I don't have time to hold a conversation with you." Ulquiorra replied.

"Yeah I know, because we're just so busy today." Grimmjow said sarcastically as he watched their first and only customer of the day walk out of the shop and down the street.

"Even if I did want to talk to you, what on earth could the two of us possibly have to talk about?" Ulquiorra asked.

"I don't know, we could just get to know each other." Grimmjow replied.

"Why would you want to do that?" Ulquiorra asked, he stepped away from the cash register and walked back to the storage room to get more napkins. He walked back out of the storage room and began to refill the napkin holders on each of the tables.

"You really do have a lot of questions for someone who isn't interested in making conversation with me." Grimmjow replied as he leaned against the counter supporting his body with his elbows.

"I'm not much of a talker, and I don't like people knowing my personal business." Ulquiorra asked.

"It wouldn't kill you to talk to at least one person, hell it might even make you feel a little better." Grimmjow said.

"And what make you think that I'm feeling bad?" Ulquiorra asked.

"I can see it in your eyes." Grimmjow replied simply. Ulquiorra turned away from the napkin holder in his hands and glanced over at Grimmjow who was still standing on the other side of the counter. Grimmjow didn't notice, he was looking down at his hands playing with the fresh pair of plastic gloves he had just put on to make the last order. He pinched the glove and pulled it away from his skin stretching the plastic until it was no longer useful as a glove.

When he was done he removed both gloves and threw them into the little trash can underneath the counter. After throwing the gloves away Grimmjow leaned back against the counter and started to play with his fingers.

"Can I ask you a question?" Grimmjow asked

"You just did." He replied

"Seriously,"

"Go ahead." Ulquiorra said quickly.

"Is the reason you don't want to talk to be because you don't trust me or because you just met me?" Grimmjow asked.

"It's a little of both." Ulquiorra replied simply.

"How do I get you to trust me?" Grimmjow asked.

"You only asked permission to question me once." Ulquiorra answered before standing from the table and returning the extra napkins to the storage room.

'Well it was worth a shot.' Grimmjow though as he grabbed a cup and filled it with ice. The next hour was spent in silence, there were no customers and Ulquiorra didn't want to talk anymore. Grimmjow's mind was swirling with questions but he knew that Ulquiorra would never answer them.

"Have you lived here your whole life?" Grimmjow asked finally breaking the silence with one of the many questions he wanted answered.

"yes." Ulquiorra answered simply.

"Uh…do you have any brothers and sisters?" Grimmjow asked.

"Only child, you?" he replied.

"A little sister," Grimmjow said.

"Name?" Ulquiorra asked. he walked over to one of the many tables and sat down, he leaned his body against the wall behind him.

"Her name is Nelliel but everyone calls her Nel. She's 4." Grimmjow said easily avoiding the obvious questions Ulquiorra was about to ask him. Grimmjow smiled a little as he tried to figure out how the questioning had turned itself around and he was now the one being questioned.

Grimmjow walked around the counter and sat down across the table from Ulquiorra. The green eyed boy turned and looked directly across the table at him. He defiantly did not want to talk anymore but it looked like he had no choice. Grimmjow reached into the cupful of ice and popped a few pieces into his mouth before biting down on them loudly.

"Please don't do that." Ulquiorra said quietly.

"Whatever you say," Grimmjow replied. Ulquiorra shifted his gaze down to the table; Grimmjow watched him but said nothing to the boy in front of him.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Ulquiorra asked

"Why not, you haven't given me a reason to be mean?" Grimmjow replied with his usual smile.

"Most people I know don't need a reason for that." Ulquiorra replied.

"If you haven't noticed that I'm not like most people by now you must be a lot denser than I previously expected you to be." Grimmjow said as he sat back in his chair. His eyes stayed locked on Ulquiorra the entire time.

"I'm not dense in the least bit; I just can't seem to find a logical reason why you would want to be nice to me." Ulquiorra replied.

"It's because I like you." Grimmjow said simply. "In more ways than one."

Ulquiorra's heat began beating at a fast pace. His looked up from the table and directly into Grimmjow's eyes. Before he could open his mouth to speak the large bell above the shop door chimed signaling to the both of them that they had a customer.

"Welcome to Sosuke's Sandwich Shop how many I help you." Ulquiorra asked as he stood and made his way around the counter to help the customer. When he was finished he didn't return to the table where Grimmjow was sitting. It was well past lunch time and Ulquiorra was starving.

"So I take it that you are through talking to me." Grimmjow said as he headed around the counter to prepare his own lunch.

"You're so observant." Ulquiorra replied sarcastically. He grabbed a disposable cup from the stand with all the others and went over to the soda machine to get something to drink. He filled the cup with ice then pushed the button to release the soda. When he did the machine gave a loud buzzing noise making both boys jump in surprise. Instead of going into his cup like he intended soda sprayed everywhere.

"Dammit!" Ulquiorra yelled as the fizzy liquid came into contact with his eyes. He rubbed his face vigorously forgetting that he had make up on nearly all of his face to cover the bruises there.

"Hey, are you okay?" Grimmjow asked as he stepped over to the smaller boy with a napkin in his hand. He grabbed Ulquiorra's arm by the wrist and pulled it away from his face.

"Stop!" Ulquiorra yelled, he dropped to his knees and covered his head protectively with his other hand. Grimmjow released Ulquiorra wrist and stepped away from him.

'He acted like I was going to hit him or something' Grimmjow thought as he looked down at Ulquiorra who was still down on the floor cowering away from him.

"Ulquiorra," was the only word Grimmjow could force out before the boy was up off the floor and jetting in the direction of the bathroom slamming the door loudly behind him.

'That's it, that's why he hurts so much.' Grimmjow thought as he looked down at the large puddle on the floor that was only being made bigger by the still leaking soda machine. Grimmjow managed to get the machine to stop leaking soda all over the floor before he went into the storage room and grabbed the mop and bucket.

When Ulquiorra returned from the bathroom Grimmjow said nothing to him. There wasn't anything that needed to be said at this point. Grimmjow finished cleaning the mess before he returned the mop back to the closet where he got it from. Both of them now knew the truth, the wetness from the soda coupled with Ulquiorra's vicious eye rubbing gave both men a good look at the bruises underneath.

Grimmjow searched his mind for the rights words to say but it seemed like they refused to bring themselves to the surface. When it was time to leave Ulquiorra walked silently out of the shop closing the door behind him.

"Do you want a ride home?" Grimmjow asked.

"What kind of question is that?" Ulquiorra replied quietly.

"I'll take that as I yes." He replied as he headed in the direction of his car.

The ride home was especially awkward. Neither of them wanted to say anything but there was so much that each of them wanted to talk about, well main only Grimmjow. Ulquiorra was perfectly fine with the silence; he didn't want to have t explain himself for any reason especially not about this.

When Grimmjow car pulled in front of Ulquiorra's house he put the car in park and turned in Ulquiorra's direction. Ulquiorra pulled at the handle of the door trying to get out but the door was locked.

"Can you let me out?" Ulquiorra asked letting his last bit of patience slip away from him once again. Grimmjow was the only person that Ulquiorra found himself continuously losing patience with.

"Promise me something." Grimmjow said.

"What?" Ulquiorra asked in a sigh.

"Be safe alright." Grimmjow replied quickly. Ulquiorra turned and looked in Grimmjow direction.

"Why do you care?" Ulquiorra asked.

"I'm not gonna let you out of here until you promise." Grimmjow answered.

"Fine, I promise." Ulquiorra huffed as he waited for Grimmjow to unlock his door.

"Goodnight Ulquiorra." Grimmjow said as Ulquiorra climbed out of the car.

"The sun hasn't even gone down yet." He replied as he slammed the door and made his way around the car and up to his front door. Grimmjow waited until Ulquiorra was all the way inside his house to pull away from the curb.

The rest of Ulquiorra's night passed by as many of the others did. He made dinner for his father then went up to his room. After about an hour and a half he came back down to put of all of the lit cigarettes that were still sitting in the ashtray on the arm of his father's chair. He turned off the TV before grabbed something to eat and running back up the steps to his room. After he ate he showed and laid down to being the task of falling asleep.

His phone vibrated underneath his pillow snapping him out of the nearly sleeping state that he was in. Ulquiorra grumbled as he searched around under his pillow for his still buzzing phone.

"What do you want Grimmjow?" Ulquiorra asked bitterly.

"Goodnight Ulquiorra." Was the only thing Grimmjow said before he hung up right in Ulquiorra's face. He rolled his eyes before dropping the phone down on the floor next to his bed.


	6. Dinner and Another Date

Chapter 6

Dinner and Another Date

Saturday

_one week later_

Sara greeted her coworkers with an enormous smiled when she spotted the two boys walking into the shop afterschool. She held her smild as she dashed around the counter and ran over to them; she wrapped her arms around Ulquiorra in a tight hug. Grimmjow stepped around them and headed farther into the shop to get ready for work.

"Sara please let me go." Ulquiorra said calmly wiggling in Sara's arms trying to free himself.

"But I missed you Ulqui, just let me get one good hug in before you separate yourself from the rest of the world and begin your work." she said still with her arms wrapped around Ulquiorra's body. When she finally did let him go Ulquiorra went around the counter to get his apron and visor from the employee break room.

The afternoon went by a lot slower than Ulquiorra wanted, but he knew that it was only because he wanted to go home. His father wouldn't be home for at least 3 days because he had to 'take care of business' somewhere else. He didn't know what kind of job his father had and he wouldn't be the one to ask; sometimes he would leave the house for an entire week and return with large rubber band wrapped wads of money which he would hide around the house then blow on liquor and cigarettes instead of paying bills like any normal parent would. Ulquiorra valued these times the most because he liked being home alone without anyone there to bother him.

"So, how did you sleep last night? Grimmjow asked as he leaned against the counter to stare at Ulquiorra. The raven haired boy looked away from the counter and shot Grimmjow an annoyed look.

"I slept just fine, I would sleep even better if you would stop waking me up to tell me goodnight." Ulquiorra replied in a bitter tone. Grimmjow laughed.

"What are you doing after work?" Grimmjow asked quickly. He leaned his body closer to Ulquiorra who took a step away from him and gave him the same annoyed look he had given him before.

"Going home," Ulquiorra answered just as fast. There was a brief moment of silence between them before Grimmjow decided to speak again.

"Do you want to go get something to eat with me, after work?" Grimmjow asked, Ulquiorra took in a deep and rolled his eyes.

"If I say yes will you stop asking to take me out?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Sure, after you agree to a second date." Grimmjow replied.

"This isn't a date, we're going to get dinner and that's all." Ulquiorra said.

"Whatever you say," Grimmjow replied with a smile.

When it was time for them to close the shop Ulquiorra didn't move as fast as he usually did. He decided to take his sweet time doing everything; if Grimmjow wanted this date he would have to wait for it.

"Where do you want to eat?" Grimmjow asked as he opened the passenger side door and let Ulquiorra climb inside.

"It doesn't matter." Ulquiorra answered as he pulled the door closed in Grimmjow's face. Grimmjow walked around to the other side and pulled the keys out of his pocket.

"Well what would you like to eat?" Grimmjow asked as he climbed into the driver's seat and closed the door.

"Food," Ulquiorra answered simply.

"Alright…how about Italian food?" he asked.

"Never had it," Ulquiorra answered quickly.

"Italian it is them." Grimmjow said.

It was a short ride from the shop to the nearest Italian restaurant (with Grimmjow driving everything was a short ride). When they pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and climbed out of the car. Ulquiorra waited inside until Grimmjow walked around and opened his door knowing that Grimmjow would make a fuss about him trying to be a gentalmen

"What is spaghetti?" Ulquiorra asked as he looked down at the menu at the items listed.

"A pasta dish." Grimmjow replied. Ulquiorra made a face as he read underneath the name at the contents of the dish. The idea of a ball of meat in the middle of his plate was something that put him off.

"Yeah I don't like spaghetti either, the Ravioli is good though." Grimmjow said.

"Are there meatballs in it?" Ulquiorra asked.

"No," Grimmjow answered.

"Fine I'll eat that." Ulquiorra said as he closed his menu and placed it back down on the table. He grabbed his glass and brought it to his lips taking a long sip of water.

"Tell me about your family." Grimmjow said calmly as he watched Ulquiorra place the glass back down on the table.

"It's just me, my mother, and my father." Ulquiorra said simply.

"…and," Grimmjow pressed.

"What more do you want to know?" Ulquiorra asked

"What's your family like?" Grimmjow asked.

"My mother is a nurse and my father…I don't know what he does." Ulquiorra answered. Grimmjow looked across the table at the plain look on Ulquiorra's face, when he saw the pang of hurt cross Ulquiorra face at the mention of his family Grimmjow decided not to press the issue anymore.

"What is your family like?" Ulquiorra asked.

"I've never met my real father. My mother met my step father last year and we moved in with him a few weeks before I started school." He replied.

"What's your sister like?" Ulquiorra asked remembering Grimmjow mentioning the girl he last time they talked one on one with each other. He had always wondered what it would be like to have a younger sibling but his father felt that one mistake was more than enough.

"She's little and loud." Grimmjow replied. The waiter came over and placed their plates in front of them, she smiled politely at the both of them before walking away from the table.

"She likes you," Ulquiorra said in a low voice as he watched the waitress sashay away from the table and back through the door to the kitchen.

"She seems really nice, but it's too bad that I have my eye on someone else." He said taking the first bite of the foot in front of him.

"Really, and who might that be?" Ulquiorra asked.

"That is none of your business." Grimmjow replied. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes; he couldn't believe that Grimmjow had used one of his own excuses against him.

Even though Ulquiorra didn't want to talk the two had a pleasant conversation over their dinner. At a first glance Grimmjow look like the type of person who would want to open up to someone he's only knew for about a week and a half, but he had no problem with doing so. Grimmjow answered every question that Ulquiorra answered without any problem. Grimmjow only wanted Ulquiorra to trust him, so if that meant that he would have to tell his life story to gain his trust then he would do just that.

"I think we should leave now, they're gonna be closing this place soon." Grimmjow said as he looked away from his plate at the empty restaurant around them. Grimmjow paid the bill and the two of them left.

When Grimmjow pulled into Ulquiorra's driveway they played their usual game to see how long it would take Ulquiorra to lose his patient before getting out of the car. Grimmjow unlocked and relocked the door about seven times before Ulquiorra turned to him with an extremely annoyed look.

"Will you let me out please?" Ulquiorra asked through clenched teeth.

"Not before you agree to another date." Grimmjow said simply.

"What else would you possibly want to do with me?" Ulquiorra asked almost amazed at the fact the Grimmjow wanted to be around him, sometimes Ulquiorra didn't want to be around his self and here this guy is practically begging for his time.

"I don't know yet, but I'll figure that out before next Saturday." Grimmjow replied.

"Fine, I'll go out with you okay." Ulquiorra said. Grimmjow smiled then hit the locks on the door freeing Ulquiorra from the shiny black cage they were sitting in.

"See you on Monday ulqui." Grimmjow said as he watched Ulquiorra get out of the car.

"My name is Ulquiorra, not ulqui!" he said as he slammed the door and walked to his front door.

Grimmjow walked into his house after dropping Ulquiorra off only to be greeted by the tornado that was his little sister Nel. She ran around him in circles as he walked from the front door upstairs to his bedroom. He opened the door and flicked on the light as he walked slowly over to his bed.

"Kitty hasn't stopped smiling for a long time, Kitty must be really happy." Nel said as she climbed onto his bed and sat down right in the middle of it.

"Kitty is very happy." He said as he laid his body down on the bed next to the spot where his sister was sitting.

"Why is kitty so happy?" Nel asked.

"Nel is asked a lot of questions," Grimmjow replied.

"Nel just wants to know." She said. She leaned down and put her head on Grimmjow's chest and closed her eyes.

"Oh no you don't, not tonight Nel." Grimmjow said as he lifted the girl from his body and held her in the arm above him at arm's length.

"Why can't Nel sleep in here?" she asked.

"Nel should be a big girl and sleep in her own bed." Grimmjow said. He set the girl down next to him and sat up on the bed. He scooped her up and held her underneath her arm like a football as he walked from his room the short distance down the hallway to Nel's room. He opened the door and walked in without turning the light on.

"B-but Nel doesn't want to sleep in there. Nel wants to sleep in the room with kitty." She whined, Grimmjow pulled the covers back and laid the girl down on the bed and tucked her in. she yawned and rubbed her eyes as she continued to whine about having to sleep in her own room.

"Look if Nel sleeps in her own room tonight then kitty will take her out for ice cream tomorrow." Grimmjow said, he reached over and clicked on the small nightlight that was plugged into the wall next to her bed.

"Really does kitty promise?" Nel asked with a large sleepy smile she lifted her small hand and held her pinky out to Grimmjow

"Kitty promises, Nel can get whatever flavored ice cream she wants if she sleeps in her room tonight." Grimmjow replied as he wrapped his finger around hers and smiled warmly. Nel smiled back before rolling over and shutting her eyes. It kind of amazed Grimmjow how she could be bouncing off walls one second then falls fast asleep with no sign of hesitation on her part, but that's just how she was.

After he was completely sure that Nel was asleep for the night she he stood from the bed and walked out of the room leaving the door opened behind him. With her asleep there would be no one in the house capable of making enough noise to wake her. Grimmjow walked back to his room and grabbed some pajamas. He showered and readied himself for bed before going back to his room and lying across his bed. He grabbed his phone and sent Ulquiorra his nightly goodnight text message before falling asleep himself.


	7. Don't Save Me

Chapter 7

Don't Save Me

Monday

Ulquiorra hugged his Math textbook tightly to his chest as he made his way through the hallway back to his classroom. The hallways were full of people walking to and from their classes, trying their hardest to get there before they were late.

"Watch it you freak!" yelled a loud voice from Ulquiorra's right. Ulquiorra only glanced to his left before his math book was snatched from his hands and thrown into a nearby trashcan.

"What the hell was that for?" Ulquiorra asked as he whipped around to see whoever it was that had just thrown his book in the trash. The figure behind him was lean, and tall. With Ulquiorra standing right in front of him he was only face to face with this person's chest. His gaze shifted up from boy's chest to be greeted by a wide toothy scowl.

"You're looking in the wrong direction kid," he said as he pointed back down to the ground between our feet. Ulquiorra looked down to see nothing but their feet and the floor underneath them.

"Are you going to start making sense now?" Ulquiorra asked bluntly.

"You stepped on my shoe, stupid." The boy said as he pushed the back of Ulquiorra's head down towards the ground closer to his shoe.

"Don't touch me." Ulquiorra replied grabbing the boys hand and moving it away from his head.

"Get your hands off me you freak." Retorted the boy as he took hold of Ulquiorra wrist and hoisted it high above his head. By now the other Students around them were starting to look on, trying to see what was going on.

"Let me go," Ulquiorra said simply not taking his eyes away from the boy in front of him.

"It doesn't look to me like you're in a position to be making requests." Said the boy with a wide smile.

"He said to let him go." Said a familiar voice, Ulquiorra craned his neck to see Grimmjow pushing his way through the crowd to get to the circle that everyone had created around them.

"Who the hell are you?" asked the boy.

"My name is Grimmjow, not like that makes any difference. I'm gonna beat your ass either way it goes." Grimmjow replied.

"Oh so you're that little rich kid that just moved here huh? You know, the one who lives up in that neighborhood full of huge house with pools in their backyards and stuff right?" asked the boy. Ulquiorra looked over at Grimmjow who only nodded silently as he rolled up the sleeves of his uniform shirt. When he was done he unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and stepped over the Ulquiorra and the boy holding his arm.

"Don't you take another step forward Grimmjow." Ulquiorra said in a cold voice.

"What?" Grimmjow asked.

"You heard me, I don't want you to save me." Ulquiorra replied.

"Are you kidding me? Any sane person would be begging for the help I'm trying to give you and your turning me away knowing that you can't beat this guy." Grimmjow said folding his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, you heard him, get out of here you little blue haired fag." Yelled the boy in a loud voice making a few of their classmates laugh, Grimmjow turned and flashed a manic smile in the boy's direction. It was a look that Ulquiorra never thought Grimmjow's face was capable of holding but it managed it well.

"Wha'd you just call me?" Grimmjow asked in a low voice, the sadistic look not leaving his eye for one second as he took a small step towards Ulquiorra and the boy still holding his wrist.

"You heard me; I called you a blue haired fag." Said the boy again, his voice had lost the dangerous edge it once held now that his prey had suddenly grown fangs and started snapping back. Grimmjow laughed.

"That's what I thought you said." Grimmjow replied as he made his was over to the boy and took him by the front of the shirt.

"You think your scary or something?" asked the boy obviously shaken by the murderous look Grimmjow was giving him.

"No," he replied simply. "I know I am." He added with a smile. He brought his hand back and punched the boy right in the mouth; the force of the punch set him hurdling back into the wall behind him. The students around them transformed into a pack of wild animals as they cheered the two on while trying to get closer to get a good look at what was going on; the entire scene made Ulquiorra cringe in disgust. He just wanted it all to stop.

It took two security guards and six teachers plus Ulquiorra to pull Grimmjow off of the boy. By the time the fight was over the boy was beaten past recognition. The boy was brought to the nurse's office and Grimmjow and Ulquiorra were taken into the principal's office.

"This kind of behavior will not be tolerated here!" yelled the old principal as best he could. I kept my head down and stared at my hands as he continued to yell at the both of us.

"One week," He said as he placed their two record folders down on his desk.

"One week of what?" Grimmjow asked, he readjusted his seating position in an effort to make himself more comfortable. the handcuffs they had him locked in were made that almost impossible.

"One week of out a school suspension for the both of you." Said the principal as he sat back in the chair and looked across his desk at the two boys.

"That isn't fair Ulqui-," Grimmjow started.

"I could have you arrested for beating that boy nearly to death the way you did." Spat the principal in reply.

"I want you off the premises as soon as possible; we will notify your parents if needed." He said. Ulquiorra's head shot up like he had just been electrocuted by the man's words. He looked over to Grimmjow who was still staring daggers at the white haired man in front of them.

"No need for that, come on Ulquiorra. I'll give you a ride home." Grimmjow said as he stood from the chair and headed for the door. Ulquiorra stood slowly and walked behind him to the door.

"Oh and one more thing, can you please take these damned things off me?" Grimmjow asked as he stepped closer to the police officer who was standing by the door. The office grabbed his keys and unlocked the handcuffs and removed them from Grimmjow's wrists. The two boys walked out of the office and to the front of the building.

"You didn't need to do that you know." Ulquiorra said finally. "I would have been fine if you would have just left me alone."

"You really need to learn how to accept kindness when someone only means well." Grimmjow replied. On their way past the nurse's office Grimmjow stopped in front of the door.

"What are you doing in here, you were supposed to be gone by now." said the nurse as Grimmjow barged through the door and walked over to the cot that the boy was laying on.

"l-look I'm sorry alright, I won't ever say anything else to you again." said the boy, he raised his hands in front of his face protectively.

"Grimmjow reached into his pocket and grabbed his wallet. He pulled some money out and handed it to the boy.

"What are you giving me this for?" the boy asked.

"It's to get you care at a real doctor's office, this little pill shack isn't going to do anything for you." Grimmjow said as he pushed the money into he boy's hand and walked back towards the door.

"You're forgetting something." Ulquiorra said placing his body in front of his door blocking the exit.

"Right," Grimmjow replied turning on his heels to look at the boy. "I'm…I'm sorry for beating on you like that,"

"…and" Ulquiorra pressed.

"And I promise to you and everyone else here that it will never happen again." Grimmjow said before he stepped around Ulquiorra and headed out of the door.

"Hey, kid!" yelled the boy.

"My name is Ulquiorra. What do you want?" Ulquiorra asked.

"I'm sorry for treating you and your boyfriend so badly." He said. Ulquiorra could feel his face burning with embarrassment.

"wh…he's not my-"

"Come on, we need to get out of here before that old man calls our parents." Grimmjow said taking Ulquiorra by the arm and pulling him away from the door.

'That boy really thinks that Grimmjow is my boyfriend.' Ulquiorra thought as Grimmjow pulled him in the direction of the entrance of the school. Grimmjow kept his hand around Ulquiorra's wrist as they both headed towards Grimmjow's car. Ulquiorra's mind was too busy worrying about what the boy in the nurse's office said about the two of them to realize that Grimmjow still had his hands on him or the fact that Grimmjow's tugging was actually starting to hurt his arm.

"Get in," Grimmjow said when they finally reached Grimmjow's car.

"You aren't my parent, you can't order me around like that." Ulquiorra said as he got into the car and slammed the door behind me.

"Hey, be careful will you. You're gonna break my door." Grimmjow replied.

"Calm down, your door will be fine." Ulquiorra said calmly.

"Not if it falls the hell off from you slamming it so hard." Grimmjow replied.

"Shut up." Ulquiorra replied bitterly.

"Whatever you say," Grimmjow replied.

"Stop saying that, it's annoying." Ulquiorra said as he sank down into the passenger's seat and waited for Grimmjow to start his car.

"Fine," Grimmjow replied starting his car and pulling away from the school. They in silence for a long while before either of them finally spoke.

"Uh, are you hungry or do you just want me to take you home?" Grimmjow asked. Ulquiorra took a deep breath before answering. He didn't have any money to buy anything to eat and he didn't want Grimmjow spending any of his money on him but he couldn't go home because he knew his father would be home right now.

"I don't have any money." Ulquiorra said simply.

"Don't worry about it, what do you want to eat?" Grimmjow asked.

"It doesn't matter, just as long as I get to eat." Ulquiorra replied.

"Burgers it is then." Grimmjow said as he turned the wheel harshly to the left and headed in the direction of the nearest fast food joint. He pulled into the first parking spot he could find and then got out of the car. Ulquiorra didn't wait for him to come around and open the door. He got out of the car and walked into the restaurant, he didn't bother to wait for Grimmjow in the least bit.

"So how do you think your parents are going to react when you tell them that you're suspended from school?" Grimmjow asked with a mouth full of food.

"The same way I'm going to react if you don't chew with your mouth close." Ulquiorra replied bitterly.

"Sorry," Grimmjow said before pausing to swallow the food he had in his mouth. Once he'd choked it down he was free to talk like a normal human being.

"So you gonna answer my question?" Grimmjow asked.

"They aren't going to react, because they aren't going to find out." Ulquiorra replied.

"So you're going to lie?" Grimmjow asked.

"I'm not going to lie to them; I just know that they aren't going to be asking about it." Ulquiorra answered.

Grimmjow didn't come back with another question. He just sat there sipping soda through his straw as he watched Ulquiorra intently. His gaze didn't waver in the least.

"What are you looking at?" Ulquiorra asked as he snaked on the fries that were now starting to get cold.

"Are we seriously about to have this conversation again?" Grimmjow asked.

"No, I'm asking you something else." Ulquiorra replied.

"And what is that?" Grimmjow asked. Ulquiorra didn't answer.

"What is it that you're trying to ask me again?" Grimmjow asked.

"What is that that make you so interested in me?" Ulquiorra asked.

"You're a very interesting person you know." Grimmjow replied.

"Please answer my question Grimmjow." Ulquiorra said with a sigh.

"Your eyes," Grimmjow answered quickly.

"Huh?"

"There's just something about your eyes that I don't see in others. They're special and so are you." Grimmjow replied.

Ulquiorra didn't say anything for a long time. For the first time in his life he didn't have a snippy smart ass comment to blurt out in reply to whatever Grimmjow said. He was speechless. Grimmjow had just told him that he was special and he had never been told anything like this before. He twisted a fry between two of his fingers trying to find something to say.

"What's wrong?" Grimmjow asked.

"Nothing, I was just thinking." Ulquiorra replied.

"About?" Grimmjow pressed.

"That isn't any of your business Mr. Jaegerjaquez." Ulquiorra said with a smile. Grimmjow smiled before turning his attention back to the food in front of him. There wasn't really anymore food in front of him just empty containers and burger wrapping papers.

Ulquiorra reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone to check the time. It was well after the dismissal time for their school and he figured it was okay for him to head home now.

"We should get going." Ulquiorra said simply. Grimmjow nodded and grabbed the trash from the table threw it into the garbage next to the door. He held the door open and allowed Ulquiorra to walk out before him. Ulquiorra walked to the car and got into the car without waiting for Grimmjow. The ride home was quiet as it usually was.

"So, uh, what are you doing tomorrow?" Grimmjow asked.

"I'm going to be busy being suspended from school." Ulquiorra replied with a smirk.

"Would you want to maybe hang out or something, you know since we're both not going to be at school." Grimmjow asked.

"I'll think about it and answer you later." Ulquiorra replied knowing that Grimmjow would be calling him later on before they both went to sleep. Ulquiorra removed his seat belt then got out of the car.

"Ulquiorra you forgot your math book!" Grimmjow yelled before Ulquiorra could reach his front door.

"Keep it," Ulquiorra replied not wanting to have to walk back down his driveway to get the book.

"Alright, see ya tomorrow." He yelled before speeding away from the curb.

"I never agreed to anything!" Ulquiorra screamed knowing that there was no way Grimmjow had heard him.

His house was quiet when he opened his front door; it was way too quiet for Ulquiorra's liking. He couldn't even hear the TV in the living room. He walked into the house and closed the door behind him making sure to remove his shoes before he stepped onto the carpeted floor of his house. He walked around downstairs to find that no one was there. he went up the stairs and looked around and there wasn't anyone there either.

"You looking for me?" asked a familiar voice. Ulquiorra whipped around to see his father standing at the end of the hallway near the top of the stairs, he could tell by the look on his father's face that whatever was about to happen wasn't good at all.

"What's going on?" Ulquiorra asked from his position at the other end of the hallway

"I got a call from your school today." Said his father in a dangerous tone.

_'Shit!'_ Ulquiorra thought to himself. There wasn't supposed to be a phone call, why did they still call his house. If he would have been home he would have been able to answer the phone and intercept the call before the news got to his father, but he wasn't home and now his father knew it. Ulquiorra was in deep shit and he knew it.

"Bring your ass over here." Ordered his father in a loud voice, he knew what was coming next; as soon as Ulquiorra was within arm's reach he grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him against the wall.

"Please don't do this, please." Ulquiorra begged in a small voice.

"So you think that you can just get in trouble at school and not be disciplined at home?" asked his father as he moved his face closer to Ulquiorra's. Ulquiorra grabbed his father's hand with both of his and tried to pry it from the front of his shirt. His father retracted his arm and snapped it forward again, banging him against the wall.

"No I don't think that, I just-"

"Just what!?" his father screamed directly into his face, his breath smelled of beer and corn chips. The smell made Ulquiorra want to vomit, but his father only smiled wickedly down at his son.

"You're disgusting." Spat his father.

"I know," Ulquiorra replied softly. He had been told this so many times that it didn't even come as a shock to him anymore.

"You're in trouble, you know that right?" asked his father.

"Yes sir I do." Ulquiorra replied.

"Good," said his father before he pulled Ulquiorra away from the wall and gave him a hard push in the direction of the stairs. Ulquiorra wasn't able to catch himself in time to stand upright, the only thing he could do was hope that he didn't break his neck from falling down the stairs.

"Please, don't hurt me," Ulquiorra said in a small voice as he cowered into the corner at the bottom of the steps. All he could do was watch as his father walked slowly down the stairs, with an unhappy scowl plastered across his face.


	8. Save Me

Author's Note:

I was in a dark place when I wrote this so I don't really know how it turned out, if there are any mistakes can you please just let me know

Chapter 8

Save Me

Ulquiorra stared directly into his father's eyes. He no longer held any fear. He knew what was coming and he knew that it made no sense for him to fight it. Fighting it would only get him in more trouble than he was already in. Instead he cleared his mind of every emotion possible. He was completely blank.

He heard nothing. He felt nothing. It was like he was beside himself watching the entire scene unfold in front of him.

"You stupid little fuck!" he yelled as he hoisted Ulquiorra's body from the floor by the front of his shirt. Ulquiorra stood to his feet only to be thrown back down on the floor again. His father grabbed him by the front of the shirt and pulled him into the living room.

"Now I gotta sit here and look at your dumb ass all day cause you can't go to school." I screamed as he pulled Ulquiorra from the floor again.

"Please let me go?" Ulquiorra begged in a small voice. He bit down on his bottom lip the moment he let the words slip from his mouth. He didn't mean to say anything; he didn't want to say anything and he could tell by the astonished look on his father's face that the request he just made was simply out of the question. Ulquiorra closed his eyes and waited for what was coming next, he was really gonna get it now.

"You want me to stop?" asked his father in a mocking tone. He moved his face closer to Ulquiorra's, forcing his son to look him directly in the eyes.

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

Ulquiorra said nothing.

"Answer me." he demanded.

Again Ulquiorra said nothing.

"I said answer me you little bitch!" screamed his father. He wrapped his large hand around Ulquiorra's arm and twisted it harshly. He turned him around to face the wall and folded his arm behind his back.

"Now tell me if it hurts." He hissed as he pushed Ulquiorra's arm into awkward positions, threatening to pop his arm out of its socket.

"Come on, open your mouth!" he said in a loud voice before he applied even more pressure to his sons skinny arm.

"Ahh! It hurts! P-please stop!" Ulquiorra screamed. His father released his arms and watched as he son crumbled to his knees before him. he gave a sinister smirk before he raised his foot from the ground and she shoved it into Ulquiorra's back, pushing him down to the floor.

"You've been giving a lot of lip around here lately, like you're head honcho around here or something." he said as he lifted his foot from Ulquiorra's back.

"DON'T!—stomp—TELL ME—stomp—WHAT TO DO BITCH!—stomp-. I make the orders around here not you. I stop hitting you when I get damn well ready to, you got that?" he asked.

"Yes sir," Ulquiorra answered quietly.

"Speak up!" screamed his father giving Ulquiorra's back another hard stomp. Ulquiorra was lying face down on the ground with his face pressed into the carpet waiting for either one of two things to happen. Either his back was going to give and it was going to snap in half or someone was going to spring into action and save him, like Grimmjow had done earlier that day. But he knew that wasn't going to happen; there was no possible way that anyone was going to be there to save him now even if he wanted them to.

"Yes…sir, I understand." Ulquiorra said in a loud a voice as he could manage without yelling at his father, whose foot was still pressing into the sore spot on his back that it had just created.

"Stupid ass kid, get the hell out of here before something really bad happens to you." His father said as he removed his foot from Ulquiorra body and walked over to his chair. He grabbed the remote and threw himself down in the chair turning the TV on at the same time.

Ulquiorra could barely move, he tried to drag his body over to the stairs but his arm was aching still from his father's attack. He tried to stand but his back would allow him to go higher than a kneeling position on the floor.

"Are you dumb, get the fuck outta here!" his father yelled. Ulquiorra gritted his teeth as he forced himself to stand from the floor and run up the stairs. Once he was there and out of his father's sight he was free to collapse on the ground in the upstairs hallway. I felt like his whole body was numb and it was hard for him to breath.

"You should have just kept your damned mouth shut Ulquiorra." He scolded himself as he struggled to his feet and went into the bathroom. He held onto the rim of the sink and used it to support the rest of his body. He was beaten but at least he wasn't bleeding this time.

He went over to the shower and turned it on before he carefully stripped naked. Even though he had turned the shower on he chose to sit instead of stand; his body wouldn't have allowed him to stay on his feet any loner anyway. He put his entire head underneath the heavy stream of water and allowed his own water works to flow freely.

He couldn't hold it in anymore. The good thing was that with the water of the shower no one would ever know he had been crying and best of all no one would ever heard him over the noise of the shower. He sat there and cried until the water started to run cold. once it did he stood from where he was standing and proceeded to wash his body clean. After he was done with he wrapped a towel around his hips and went into his room to get dressed.

After he was finished dressing himself he laid across his bed and fell asleep.

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez

I waited all night but he never called. He said he would decide later on if he would come out with me tomorrow but he hasn't called me yet. I'm not sure about a lot of things when it comes to him but I knew that he's a man of his word. If he said that he was going to call then I don't think it wrong of me to expect him to do so.

"Kitty is looking at the roof again." Nel said from her position at the side of Grimmjow's bed. Grimmjow looked over to the girl before turning his attention back to the ceiling.

"Kitty is thinking about something." Grimmjow replied plainly. Nel pushed herself up onto her toes to get a better look at her brother.

"Kitty and Nel didn't go get ice cream today." She said. At that moment Grimmjow wanted to punch himself in the face, he had forgotten all about the promise he made to his little sister the night before.

"Kitty is sorry, he forgot his promise." Grimmjow said as he turned to look over at her. He expected the little girl to be sad but instead she was smiling.

"It's okay, kitty and Nel can go get ice cream another time." She said happily. Grimmjow smiled before reaching over the side of the bed to pull her into bed with him.

"Kitty double promises to tale Nel to get ice cream tomorrow." Grimmjow said.

"With sprinkles?" Nel asked.

"Yes, with sprinkles." Grimmjow replied.

After Nel fell asleep Grimmjow waited. He didn't have school in the morning so he had all the time in the world to wait for Ulquiorra's call, but it never came. Grimmjow was in no rush to get to sleep. He waited until the sky grew dark and then light was going into the early hours of the morning and he was struggling to keep his eyes open.

"I guess he didn't want to talk tonight," Grimmjow said before rolling over to and falling asleep next to Nel.

The next morning Grimmjow was awakened by Nel, who woke up about an hour after he had fallen asleep. She stood up on the side of him and began jumping on the bed shaking him awake.

"Good morning Nel." Grimmjow said in a low voice.

"Get up kitty! We have to go get ice cream today!" she screamed.

"Isn't it a little early for ice cream?" Grimmjow asked

"No it's not!" she replied in a loud voice.

"We'll go get ice cream this afternoon; you should at least eat breakfast first." Grimmjow said as he sat up on his bed and looked around the room. He was still tired due to the fact that he had stay up all night waiting for Ulquiorra to answer him. He hadn't even taken a shower and he was still in his cloths from the day before. He stood from his bed and walked over to his dresser to get some clean cloths.

"Kitty," Nel said.

"Yes?"

"Can Nel and Kitty go to the park today?" she asked.

"Anything you want Nel." Grimmjow replied with a smile.


	9. My New Safe Haven

Chapter 9

My New Safe Haven

"Okay, Nel is ready!" she yelled as she ran up to Grimmjow and stood in front of her.

"Nel why do you have on two different shoes?" he asked looking down at her feet. She had on one pink sandal and a green sneaker, with yellow socks.

"Nel find any ones that matched so she picked her two favorites." She replied with a big smile. Grimmjow smiled and shook his head.

"Come on, Kitty will help Nel find a pair of shoes that match." Grimmjow said as he held his hand out to the girl in front of him. She grabbed as many of his finger as he could with her small hand before he led her upstairs to her room.

When he got there he was amazed that she was able to find anything with the big mess all over the floor. There were toys and crayons everywhere. He walked over to the closet and got down on the floor. After about 5 minutes of looking he was starting to think that he would ever find anything that matched.

"Nel are you looking for shoes or playing with your toys?" he asked as he looked over at Nel who was throwing toys around the room like she didn't have anything else to do.

"Nel is trying to find shoes so we can get ice cream." She replied as she continued to play with her toys. Grimmjow smiled as he pulled his phone from his pocket and unlocked the touch screen. He went to his recent calls and dialed the first person on the list. He put the phone to his ear and waited for the call to go through.

"Hello?" said Ulquiorra on the other side of the phone in sleepy voice. He sounded like he was still asleep, which is something that Grimmjow didn't even think that Ulquiorra would do. Someone like Ulquiorra would have surely been up since dawn, probably doing homework or something like that.

"Where you sleeping?" Grimmjow asked.

"Yeah, I guess I was." he replied. There was a long pause as Grimmjow listened to the rustling noises on the other side of the phone.

"Well it doesn't look like you have any plans…do you want to go out for ice cream with me?" Grimmjow asked. He sat and waited for Ulquiorra's answer. He was used to the long time it took for Ulquiorra to answer the questions he asked him.

"Sure I'll come." Ulquiorra said finally.

"Okay I'll call you when I'm outside your house, alright?" Grimmjow said.

"Alright," Was all Ulquiorra said before the line went dead.

"Who was kitty talking to?" Nel asked.

"Kitty was talking to his friend and still trying to find Nel's shoes." Grimmjow replied with a smile. He looked around on floor around him and picked up the other pink sandal that wasn't already on Nel's foot. He couldn't tell if the shoes matched her outfit or not because her entire body was covered by the oversized green hoodie she insisted on wearing every day.

"Here, put this on, and take those ugly yellow socks off." Grimmjow said as he tossed the shoe across the room to where Nel was sitting on the floor. She grabbed the sandal and quickly put it on.

"Is kitty ready to go now?" Nel asked.

"Yes, kitty is ready to go." Grimmjow said as he stood from the floor and walked out of her room. He grabbed his wallet and his keys from his room before going downstairs to the front door.

When he got outside to his car he grabbed Nel's car seat from his truck and put it in the backseat. He buckled the car seat in then moved from the door so that Nel could get into the car. She climbed into her seat and strapped herself in with no problem.

Once she was all the way strapped in Grimmjow closed the door and moved to get into the car himself.

"This isn't the way to the Ice Cream place." Nel whined from the backseat as she stretched over the side of her seat to see out of the window.

"Why have to make a stop before we go get ice cream." Grimmjow replied.

"Where are Kitty and Nel going?" she asked.

"You'll see when we get there." Grimmjow replied. He knew that her questioned wouldn't stop even if he did answer her so he gave her the same answer he always did when she questioned him like that. He kept repeating it until they pulled up in front of Ulquiorra's house.

Before he could reach into his pocket and grab his phone Ulquiorra was walking out of the front door of his house. Grimmjow unlocked the door and allowed Ulquiorra to get into the car. Ulquiorra slipped into the passenger's seat and closed the door behind him. The black haired boy pulled his seat belt into place and looked over at Grimmjow.

"Hello Grimmjow." Ulquiorra said in a plain voice.

"Who are you!?" Nel screamed as she struggled against her buckles to get a glimpse around the seat at Ulquiorra.

"My name is Ulquiorra." He replied as he turned to look at the little girl in the back seat. She smiled and sat back into place.

"That's a funny name." she said with a smile.

"Laughing at someone's name isn't very nice." Ulquiorra said to her.

"But it's really funny." She replied still smiling. Ulquiorra looked the girl over one more time before turning around and looking out the front windshield at his house.

"I thought you said we were going to get ice cream?" Ulquiorra asked plainly.

"Ice cream, let go!" Nel screamed form the backseat. Grimmjow glanced back before pulling away from Ulquiorra's house. The ride to the ice cream shop was short but that didn't stop Nel from talking the two to death before they reached their destination. Nel asked the same questioned over and over but Ulquiorra didn't mind he happily answered all of her questions.

Grimmjow found a parking spot near the front entrance before going turning the car completely off. Nel had freed herself from her car seat and jumped out the car long before Grimmjow had even removed his key from the ignition. Nel waited outside the passenger's side door and waited for Ulquiorra to get out of the car.

When he did she grabbed his hand and pulled him in the direction of the door. Ulquiorra held the door open and allowed Nel to run inside ahead of him.

"Nel wants this kind of ice cream!" Nel screamed as she pointed at large sign on the wall and looked back at Grimmjow who wasn't even through the door completely before Nel was telling him everything she wanted on her ice cream. She kept screaming and telling Grimmjow everything she wanted on her ice cream. Grimmjow just nodded and let the girl behind the counter ring up her ice cream and all its toppings. By the end of her order she had three flavors of ice cream and almost every candy topping in the entire shop

The woman handed the cupful of ice cream over the counter to Grimmjow. Nel was grabbing at the bottom of his pants and jumping up and down trying to reach the cup of ice cream in his hand.

"Nel has to sit down so she doesn't drop the ice cream." Grimmjow said as he looked down at Nel, she smiled and went over to the first empty table she could find. Grimmjow order two ice cream cones for himself and Ulquiorra before paying for everything and going over to the table where Ne was sitting. He put the cup and spoon in front of her one the table and she dove face first into it without any hesitation.

Ulquiorra sat there with the ice cream cone in his hand watching the girl in front of him inhaling the ice cream in front of her.

"Nel is going to choke if she doesn't slow down." Grimmjow said as he grabbed a napkin from the dispenser and whipped her face with one hand. Ulquiorra tilted his head to the side and watched the two on the other side of the table. It was amazing to him how Grimmjow was so fatherly to the little next to him. It was amazing to him how Grimmjow could go from an intimidating wild beast to a fluffy kitten in a matter of seconds. The nickname is sister had given has was truly deserved. After they were done with their ice cream they clean up the rest of Nel's mess and went back to the car.

"Nel wants to go to the park!" she screamed as she bounced around in the back seat on a complete sugar high from all the ice cream and candy she had eaten a couple minutes before. Grimmjow turned around and looked in the back seat.

"Only if you promise to sit in your seat and not get out while I'm driving," Grimmjow said referring to the last time he took her somewhere after giving her too much ice cream. She climbed all over the car while he was driving and nearly caused him to have an accident.

"Okay I promise." She said as she sat in her seat and buckled the straps.

"She kept her word and stayed in her seat until they arrived at the park. He parked the car and got out, he opened the back door and Nel exploded from the car and broke out into a full sprint in the direction of the slide.

"Nel wants kitty to play with her!" she screamed from the top of the slide before sliding down to the bottom and running back over to him. She grabbed his hand and pulled him in the direction of the slide. Ulquiorra didn't complain. He sat on a nearby bench and watched the two playing. Nel emerged from the slide again and ran over to Ulquiorra. With an extended hand she slapped his knee lightly and smile.

"Tag, you're it." she said with a smile

"What?" Ulquiorra replied with a look of confusion.

"It's a game, you're supposed to chase someone else until you catch them and when you do it's their turn to chase you." Grimmjow said as she walked over and stood behind Nel.

"Y-you want me to play with you?" Ulquiorra asked unable to hide the shock and confusion in his voice.

"Yeah Nel wants ulacorla to come and play!" Nel said with a big smile. Most of the time it would anger him when someone mispronounced his name but when Nel did it, it was actually kind of cute. He smiled and stood from the bench.

"You it so you have to chase Nel and Kitty!" she said happily as she sprinted away from him, Grimmjow ran too but not as fast as Nel was running.

Ulquiorra was reluctant at first, fearing that any kind of moment would aggravate the scrapes and bruises he had received from his father the day before but it didn't. None of the bruises hurt at all. It was like they weren't even there to begin with.

"peek-a-boo!" Nel yelled as she peaked around a tree at Ulquiorra who was standing on the opposite side trying to catch her. They ran around the tree for a minute before Ulquiorra finally succeeded in catching the little girl. He lifted her from the ground and held her in his arms.

"I got you." He said triumphantly as he walked away from the tree and set Nel back down on the ground.

It took almost an hour before the sugar was worked completely out of Nel system. Grimmjow picked the little girl up from the bench she had been sitting on and headed for the car. He laid her in her car seat and strapped her in. she was sleeping soundly in the backset before Grimmjow could get around to the front seat.

"Thanks for coming out with us today." Grimmjow said as he drove down the street with no real destination in mind.

"Are you hungry?" Grimmjow asked.

"Uh, sure," Ulquiorra replied.

"Burgers okay?" Grimmjow asked.

"Sure." Ulquiorra replied in a calm voice. For once he didn't want to give Grimmjow a hard time. He was the calmest he had ever been in his life, it was almost unreal. The only other time he felt this calm was when he was in his happy place.

Grimmjow went through the drive through of the nearest burger joint he could find. He got something for all three of them knowing that it was only a matter of minutes before Nel would be awake again and ready to eat dinner. After going through the drive through he pulled into their parking spot and began to eat their food.

"Good morning kitty!" Nel said in a loud voice as she unsnapped her car seat holds and leaned forward against the middle console. Grimmjow grabbed a bag and handed it to her. She reached into the bag and grabbed a handful of fries shoved them into her mouth. She reached into the bag again and grabbed the toy.

"Finish your food before you play with the toy." Grimmjow said without looking at her. She put the toy aside and reached into the bag again to eat the rest of her food. Once she was fully awake she started talking and didn't stop. She talked while she ate and on the whole ride to Ulquiorra's house. Ulquiorra wasn't one to talk but he didn't mind talk to Nel. She was like a breath of fresh air to him. Her innocence was like nothing he had ever seen. Her eyes were so bright and her smile was that of pure happiness, it was like there was nothing in the world that could make her unhappy.

"Is Kitty's friend going home now?" she asked as they pulled up in front of Ulquiorra's house.

Ulquiorra took in a deep breath fighting against the tightening feeling in his chest. He looked out the window at his house. He didn't want to go home, he didn't want to get out of the car and go into this dungeon that he called his home. He knew that his father would be waiting for him when he got inside possibly with another beating for something that he didn't do.

He said his goodbye to Grimmjow and his little sister before going into his house. All was quiet except for the sound of the TV in the living room. He walked quietly to the living room and looked around. His father as sprawled out in his chair surrounded by empty bottles of beer and empty potato chip bags.

Ulquiorra shook his head before going up the stairs to his room. he grabbed some cloths and went to the bathroom to take a shower. His body was hurting before but he was feeling it now. his constant moving had finally caught up to him. Ulquiorra removed his cloths and looked at himself in the mirror. His pale skin was bruised, they were staring to fade but he could still see them very clearly against his skin.

He lifted a hand and touched the big purple and red spot on his skin in the middle of his chest. His face twisted in pain as he pocked at the purple spot on his chest. He got into the shower and washed the smell of outside from his body. Once he was clean he got out of the shower and put his pajamas on. He gathered his cloths from the floor and threw them into his dirty cloths hamper before walking out of the bathroom.

Ulquiorra went into his room and laid out on the bed pulled the covers around him. He didn't realize how tired he was until he laid down in his bed and fell asleep.

_The sunlight warmed his skin as he sat there listening to the little birds singing around him. he smiled as he watched the little green haired girl in an oversized hoodie and her older blue haired brother running around in the sandbox at the park. The girl ran up the stairs of the slide and slid down the yellow spiraling tunnel until she reached the end. She repeated this over and over before she turned and looked in Ulquiorra's direction. The girl and her brother ran over and grabbed him by the hand pulling him from the bench. _

_ "Play with us." they said they pulled him over to the jungle gym. Ulquiorra smiled and followed behind the girl and her brother to the slide, and they played. They smiled and played and never got tired and ulquiorra was happy. This was his new happy place, his new safe haven. _


	10. Bruises

Chapter 10

Bruises

The days Ulquiorra spent at home were surprisingly quiet seeing as how he had to share the house with his father the entire time. Each day just ended up being like the one before; Ulquiorra would wake up and go directly down stairs and make breakfast as quickly and as quietly as possible, then he would deliver a plate of food to his very hung-over father before going back to the kitchen to eat alone. If his father wanted a beer or the channel on the TV changed he would yell for Ulquiorra to 'get his worthless ass downstairs' and do it for him.

After returning to his room for the fifth time that morning he sat down on his bed and grabbed his phone to check the time. It must have gone off while he was attending to his father because there was a new message waiting for him when he picked the phone up from the bed.

-Are you up for a movie at my place?- Grimmjow

Ulquiorra stared at the screen for a minute before replying to the message. 'First I meet his sister now he's inviting me over to his house.' Ulquiorra thought as he typed his reply.

-Sure what time?- Ulquiorra asked. He received a reply less than a minute later.

-Right now, I'm already waiting outside ;)- Grimmjow

-Alright. I'm on my way down. You don't have to come to the door- Ulquiorra

-I wasn't planning on it anyway- he replied.

Ulquiorra stood from the bed and went over to his closet and grabbed an outfit. Choosing an outfit wasn't hard because he really didn't have a lot of items to choose form. He grabbed a pair of black pants, a white t-shirt, and a hoodie to cover his arms. He slipped his shoes on before he tip-toed down the stairs. He could hear his father snoring loudly from the bottom of the staircase, telling Ulquiorra that he was already passed out for his midday nap and he would probably be asleep for the rest of the day.

Ulquiorra slipped out the front door and closed it softly behind him.

…..

Grimmjow had only been waiting outside Ulquiorra's house for about ten minutes but that was way more than what he was mentally capable of. He was absolutely relieved when he saw Ulquiorra emerge from his house and walked down his driveway to where Grimmjow's car was parked against the curb. Grimmjow let a wide smirk sneak its way across his face as he watched Ulquiorra slid into the passenger's seat in a way that only he could manage.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" Ulquiorra asked shyly.

"You might want to put a seat belt on." Grimmjow replied simply.

"And why is that?" Ulquiorra asked as he reached over his shoulder to grab the buckle of his seat belt.

"Because my sister isn't in the car, you already know what type of a driver I normally am." Grimmjow replied with his signature smile. Ulquiorra's mind spun wildly with images of the day the Grimmjow had nearly run him over on Grimmjow's first day of school.

Grimmjow waited until Ulquiorra had his seat belt fastened before he pulled away from the curb and sped down the street away from Ulquiorra's house.

They came to a definite stop in front of a nearby grocery store. Grimmjow pulled into a parking spot near the front and killed the car.

"Are you alright?" Grimmjow asked. He looked over at Ulquiorra who was clutching the front of the seat belt for dear life. Ulquiorra swallowed hard before turning to look at Grimmjow.

"You're a maniac." He said.

"Thanks." Grimmjow replied with a smirk as he opened his door and got out of the car.

"That wasn't a complement you jackass." Ulquiorra said as he got out of the car and slammed the door behind him.

"You just love calling me that don't you?" Grimmjow asked as the two walked through the entrance of the grocery store.

"So why are we here?" Ulquiorra asked changing the subject completely.

"My mom wanted me to pick up a few things for dinner." Grimmjow said as he grabbed a basket and headed towards the first isle. He quickly filled the basket with items from a list that he had written on a little yellow piece of paper. After he was done getting everything he needed it was time to get everything he wanted. He went to work throwing just about every snack in the basket that occupied the shelves on this particular aisle.

"Is there anything you want?" Grimmjow asked as he looked back at Ulquiorra.

"I'm not about to eat any of this garbage." Ulquiorra replied bluntly with a roll of his eyes. Grimmjow shrugged as if to say "suit yourself' before going back to the basket and heading to the checkout line.

After everything was bagged and paid for the two of them left the store and headed towards Grimmjow's house.

'Just what kind of rich is this guy?' Ulquiorra thought as he stared out the window as the two continued into the direction of Grimmjow's house. They left the normal part of town about 5 minutes ago and cross into what some of the local kids called 'the hills'. It was the part of their city where all of the rich aristocratic people lived and it was defiantly a place where Ulquiorra didn't belong.

Ulquiorra stared out the window and watched as the houses that lined the streets continued to increase in size. The bigger the houses got the more uncomfortable Ulquiorra started to feel. He was sinking down in his seat further and further with each passing minute.

"Here we are." Grimmjow announced as he pulled into the steep driveway of what had to be one of the biggest houses Ulquiorra had ever seen. The house wasn't big enough to be a mansion but it was a short step away from being considered that.

'so he's this kind of rich.' Ulquiorra thought as he looked up at the house in front of him. He reluctantly got out of the car and stood in the driveway almost paralyzed by the sight in front of him. Grimmjow had grabbed all of the groceries and was walking over to the front door.

"I didn't bring you all the way over here to for you to stand in the driveway the entire time." Grimmjow said as he motioned with his head for Ulquiorra to follow him inside.

…..

'So he's this kind of rich." Ulquiorra thought bitterly as he looked around at the very well decorated house he had just stepped into. It was like walking into a personal museum. Everything was so well organized and extremely clean; it was the kind of house Ulquiorra had only seen in his dreams. He couldn't help but feel very small and insignificant among the many expensive vases and elegant artwork that was positioned around the house.

"Mom! I'm back!" Grimmjow yelled as he pushed the door closed with his foot.

"I'm in the kitchen!" yelled a voice in reply.

Grimmjow walked further into the house and placed the groceries down on the cabinet. A short black haired woman walked over to the bags and began to remove the items inside each one. Grimmjow grabbed the bag filled with his candy and snacks and held it in his hand.

"So who is this?" she asked suddenly as she turned to look towards Ulquiorra with a kind smile.

"Mom, this is Ulquiorra." Grimmjow said simply. Her smile got even bigger and brighter than it was before.

"So this is the person that Nel has been raving about for the past couple of days." She said as she placed a hand on her hip and looked Ulquiorra up and down. She walked over and wrapped her arms around him in a friendly hug.

"Uh…it's nice to meet you ma'am." Ulquiorra said in a quiet voice.

"It's nice to meet you as well, so are you staying for dinner?" she asked quickly. She sure was one for quick questioned. The question was so fast that Ulquiorra's brain was almost unable to process it properly.

"Awe come on, I'm making stir-fry." She said happily.

"Um, sure I can stay for dinner." Ulquiorra replied in the same quiet tone that he had used before.

"Great." She said happily as she went back to what she was doing before.

"Well, we're going to go watch a movie until dinner is ready." Grimmjow said as he linked his arm around Ulquiorra's and pulled him in the direction of a random door. The door looked like a closet but it turned out to be a staircase instead.

"Leave the door open." said his mother as the two went downstairs into what had been a basement before Grimmjow and his family moved in. The room was now completely transformed into a private theater room.

"So what do you want to watch?" Grimmjow asked as he walked around the two small rows of recliner type seats and sat down in the middle of the four seated row.

"It doesn't matter." Ulquiorra replied as he watched Grimmjow picked up the remote that was almost the size of a book. He motion with his head again for Ulquiorra to come over, which he did. Ulquiorra sat down in the chair next to Grimmjow and looked to the screen. All at once the lights dimmed and the screen in front of them came to life. Grimmjow opened the bag filled with candy and started eating like his life depended on it. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes before slipping his shoes off of his feet and pulling them into the chair with him.

He was silent as he listened to Grimmjow laugh loudly at a joke that wasn't even that funny. Out of nowhere Grimmjow reached an arm out and wrapped it around Ulquiorra's shoulders pulling him closer to him. There was no arm rest in between them so Grimmjow was able to pulled Ulquiorra all the way over to his chest.

"What are you doing?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Shhh, this is the best part." He said. Ulquiorra looked back at the screen.

He didn't know what movie it was, but what he did know was that there was some guy running around with a bunch of giant blue aliens and that the movie was about three hours long. Ulquiorra leaned into Grimmjow and placed his head down on Grimmjow's shoulder. The movie wasn't particularly interesting but he had agreed to watch it.

After another hour of watching the movie Ulquiorra was starting to get bored and extremely hot. He sat up and removed his jacket before moving back into the same spot he was in previously. The room was fairly dark so there was almost no way that Grimmjow would see the bruises on his arm, if they were even still visible.

…..

'I guess he didn't enjoy the movie.' Grimmjow thought as he watched Ulquiorra sleeping soundly. Half lying in his lap, half stretched out on the rest of the row of chairs they were sitting on. Grimmjow grabbed the remote and turned the lights back up. He could smell the food that his mother was cooking but he didn't want to wake Ulquiorra. He looked so peaceful when he slept. It was a face that Grimmjow wasn't used to seeing on Ulquiorra. He was calm and Grimmjow was almost certain that if his eyes would have been open they wouldn't have held any worry like they always did.

Grimmjow placed his hand on top of Ulquiorra head and pushed his hand through his hair. He marveled at the feel of the boy's hair as he ran his fingers through Ulquiorra hair repeatedly. Ulquiorra reached up and swatted Grimmjow hand away in his sleep as if Grimmjow was a fly buzzing in his ear.

That's when he saw it; sure he had seen them before but never up close. The first time that he had he was sure that his eyes were just playing tricks on him. But now he could see them as clear as day. They covered his wrist and the upper part of his arms. Grimmjow was amazed that he hadn't seen them before this time.

"Where the hell did he get these bruises from?" Grimmjow thought as he took ahold of Ulquiorra's wrist and brought it up so that he could get a better look at it. The more he looked the more he realized just what was going on. He wrapped his hand around Ulquiorra's wrist and placed his fingers directly on top of the finger shaped marks on his skin.

They were hand prints, all of the bruises that he had were shaped like a hand to some extent.

"Grimmjow! Ulquiorra! It's time for dinner!" yelled his mother from the top of the stairs. Grimmjow released Ulquiorra's wrist and watched as he slowly returned back to consciousness.

"Is the movie over?" Ulquiorra grumbled.

"Yes," Grimmjow replied with a laugh. "It's time for dinner." He said as he moved a little encouraging Ulquiorra to sit up straight and remove his body form Grimmjow's lap. Grimmjow watched silently as Ulquiorra slipped the jacket back on and stood from the chair to head upstairs to the dining room where Grimmjow's entire family was waiting for them to arrive.


	11. Thank You

Chapter 11

Thank you

Grimmjow lead the way up the stairs and into the dining room where his family was waiting for them to arrive. Ulquiorra flashed a small smile to the people around the table before sitting in front of one of the two vacant chairs that were left for the two of them.

"Aizen this is my friend Ulquiorra." Grimmjow said as he threw himself down on the chair next to Ulquiorra. He didn't even bother look over at Aizen when he was talking to him.

"What do you mean by friend?" Aizen asked. An awkward silence fell on the table around them. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of Grimmjow rubbing his teeth together in aggravation.

"He's my friend." Grimmjow repeated in a low voice.

Grimmjow's mother stood from her chair and began serving everyone. She made sure that everyone had food on their plate before she returned to her seat to serve her own plate. The table feel into what had to be the most awkward silence that Ulquiorra had ever experienced in his life. He glanced over at Grimmjow who was greedily stuffing food into his mouth the way he always did.

Across the table Nel and Grimmjow's mother were both eating contently despite the silence.

'This must be normal for them.' Ulquiorra thought as he continued to eat the food on his plate.

"So how did you two meet?" Aizen asked keeping his eyes on Ulquiorra and Grimmjow. Aizen sat in his chair twisting his fork around as if his presence was a gift to the other people who were sitting at the table around him.

"School." Grimmjow replied simply.

"Are you in Grimmjow's class?" he asked.

"Yes," Grimmjow answered.

"Ulquiorra does have a mind of his own doesn't he? I'm sure he's perfectly capable of answering his own questions." Aizen said in a calm voice as his eyes shifted in between the two teens sitting to his left.

"you know when I invited him over I told him that we were going to be having dinner, not that you were going to be interrogating him while he tried to eat his food." Grimmjow replied. Aizen looked down at his plate with a smirk.

"Now Grimmjow, I was just trying to get to know your _friend._" Aizen said putting extra emphasis on the word friend to imply that I meant something else. Grimmjow looked away from his plate with an angry scowl covering his face. Ulquiorra had never seen Grimmjow so angry even when he got in the fight at school he didn't look this angry.

"Nel wants more!" Nel screamed from her high chair as she threw her hand up in the air happily.

"Really there isn't anything wrong with his questions." Ulquiorra said finally speaking up for the first time in his entire visit.

"So Ulquiorra, what kind of student are you?" Aizen asked with a triumphant smile. He had won the battle but not the war.

"Straight A's since first year." Ulquiorra replied without even looking over to Aizen.

"Well maybe you can help Grimmjow here with his grades. He seems to think that slaking is more important to getting good grades." Aizen said. the tone of his voice was growing increasingly mocking with each word that passed his lips. He was trying to get under Grimmjow's skin and he knew that it was working.

"Grimmjow is actually a very good student. He catches on a lot faster than the rest of the class; the only reason his grades are low is because he isn't a good test taker." Ulquiorra replied with a small smile. Aizen frowned then turned his gaze down to the plate in front of him.

Ulquiorra glanced over at Grimmjow who was smiling down at his plate happily. The rest of the dinner was silent just like it was before.

When dinner was over and the dishes were cleared from the table Ulquiorra and Grimmjow stood to leave.

"It was very nice to meet you Ulquiorra." Said Grimmjow's mother as she wrapped her arms around Ulquiorra, hugging him tightly.

"I hope you come by to see us again." she said happily/

"Sure, I would love that." Ulquiorra said as Grimmjow pulled him out of the front door and to his car. As soon as they were out of the house and the door was closed Grimmjow busted into laughter almost doubling over onto the ground.

"What's so funny?" Ulquiorra asked.

"You are amazing." Grimmjow said barley able to hold in his laughter.

"W-what do you mean?" Ulquiorra asked.

"I've never seen anyone talk to Aizen like that before. It was great." Grimmjow said with a smile.

"I wasn't really trying to be rude or anything. I was just defending you." Ulquiorra said. "You looked really angry."

"that was the greatest thing that I have ever witnessed Ulquiorra." Grimmjow said as he threw his arms around the small boy's shoulders and pulled him close. "thanks." He said as he released Ulquiorra and walked around to the driver's seat. The ride back to Ulquiorra's house wasn't as silent as all their other car rides had been. It was like there was nothing that they couldn't talk about with each other.

"Why don't you like your step dad?" Ulquiorra asked.

"He's an asshole." Grimmjow replied with a laugh as he continued to head in the direction of Ulquiorra house.

"That may be true but is that really a reason to hate him?" Ulquiorra asked.

"It defiantly is a reason." Grimmjow replied.

"How so?" Ulquiorra asked.

"We're here." Grimmjow said as he pulled up in front of Ulquiorra's house. Ulquiorra was silent as he looked out of the window to his house.

"Uh, Ulquiorra. Can I ask you something?" Grimmjow asked.

"Sure, what is it?" Ulquiorra asked. Grimmjow shook his head mentally curing himself as he ran through different versions of the question he wanted to ask trying to find the right one. He wanted to bring up the bruises he saw but he knew that he wasn't supposed to see them.

"Um….do you maybe want to come over again sometime?" Grimmjow asked as he looked away from Ulquiorra. 'I'm such a bitch.' Grimmjow thought to himself as he looked back at Ulquiorra. He just couldn't do it; he couldn't bring himself to ask him.

"Sure." Ulquiorra answered with a small smile. Ulquiorra removed his seat belt and got out of the car. Grimmjow sighed before getting out of the car himself. He was silent as he walked Ulquiorra up to his front door.

"Thanks for coming over today." Grimmjow said.

"No problem." Ulquiorra replied. Grimmjow stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Ulquiorra.

"What are you doing?" Ulquiorra asked as he looked up at Grimmjow.

"Just saying thank you," Grimmjow whispered as he pressed his lips to Ulquiorra's.

Ulquiorra eyes went wide as his mind slowly began to process what was happening. Grimmjow was kissing him. Their lips were touching each other's in a way that was almost too much for Ulquiorra to handle. His chest fluttered as he melted into the kiss pressed his body against Grimmjow's.

"Ha I always knew you'd end up with a daughter Moe." Said a familiar voice that didn't belong to either of the two teens; Ulquiorra pulled away from Grimmjow and looked in the direction of the door. Ulquiorra's stomach fell at the sight in front of him. Ulquiorra's father and his best friend Randy were standing in the door as if they were getting ready to leave the house.

"I'll be waiting in the car Moe." Randy said as he stepped through the door and around Ulquiorra and Grimmjow.

"Get in here Ulquiorra." Said his father in a low voice, he moved aside to allowed Ulquiorra enough room to walk past him.

'This is him, this is the guy is the one whose hitting him' Grimmjow thought. He didn't know this man but he could tell just by the way Ulquiorra was acting that this was him. Ulquiorra ducked past his father as if the man was going to reach out and slap him any minute. The man slammed the door shut in Grimmjow's telling him that it was time to leave.

"So you like embarrassing me now?" asked Ulquiorra's father in a low voice.

"H-how did I embarrass you?" Ulquiorra asked.

"What the hell kind of question is that. You know that the hell you did you little bitch." Yelled his father.

"I'm sorry." Ulquiorra replied as he turned his gaze down towards the floor.

"I know I called you a faggot before but I didn't think that I was telling the truth the entire time." He said. he stepped forward and grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pushed his back against the wall.

Ulquiorra was quiet. He didn't want to anger his father by saying something wrong but he was just going to get angry anyway. Still he continued to be quiet. He silently took the beating that his father was giving him. He didn't cry out when he punched him or when he threw him down on the ground and started slamming his heel into Ulquiorra's stomach.

"You stupid little fag!" Grimmjow replied as he continued to stomp on Ulquiorra's torso.

Stupid. Worthless. Faggot. They were all words that Ulquiorra had heard before. This was all normal, the cursing, the punches, the occasional foot to the chest as he continued to scream down into Ulquiorra's face.

"No son of mine if gonna be takin' it in the ass like a bitch." He said firmly. Ulquiorra chocked back the laughter that was threatening to escape him as he stared up at his father.

"Yes sir." Was all he said as he watched his father turn and walk out of the front door.


	12. Official

Chapter 12

Official

It took all of the self-control Grimmjow had not to turn around go back to Ulquiorra's house. He just wanted to know if Ulquiorra was alright. The way that Ulquiorra's father was staring at Grimmjow made his stomach clench with nervousness.

"Dammit!" Grimmjow screamed as he pulled over on the side of the road and put his car in park. He put his head to the steering wheel and took a deep breath.

"What the hell is he doing to me?" Grimmjow asked.

He sat there in his car before he decided he was sane enough to make it home without running his car off the road. He put his car in drive and pulled away from the curb and headed home.

Grimmjow's mind was so wrapped in his thoughts that he didn't notice how aggravated he looked when he walked into the house, or the fact that he had slammed the door so hard that he it shook the entire wall when he did it.

"Grimmjow are you alright?" asked his mother in a soft voice as she walked over to the front door to find her son leaning against it with his head in his hands.

"Mom, I need to talk to you." Grimmjow said as he walked away from the door and into the living room. He sat down on the sofa and scooted over far enough for his mother to take a seat beside him.

"Grimmjow, what's the matter?" she asked as she wrapped both of her hands around his arm and moved herself closer to him in a comforting way. She leaned her head against his shoulder.

"You know how they always say that you're supposed to tell someone when you're friend is getting hurt and it could be a danger to their life?" Grimmjow asked.

"You're starting to scare me," said his mother as she turned her head and buried her face into his arm.

"Mom, what would you do if someone you cared about was being hurt by a person in their family?" Grimmjow asked.

"When you say hurt, what do you mean?" she asked.

"Being hit hard enough to leave bruises." He replied.

"Slaps or punches?" she asked.

"Does it make a difference?" he said as he leaned his head on top of his mother's.

"It doesn't. I just want to fully understand the seriousness of the situation." She replied.

"I know, I just don't know what to do." Grimmjow replied.

"If you truly care about him as much as I know you do, you'll be there to protect him no matter what." She said calmly.

"How did you know who I was talking about?" Grimmjow asked.

"I have never seen you care so much about someone other than me and Nelliel." She said lifting her weight from Grimmjow's arm. "He's a good kid and so are you. It isn't a bad thing you want to help him, just don't get yourself hurt in the process." She said as she stood from the couch and walked out of the room the way she always did after she gave him advice. After she was finished talking she walked away and let him think about what she had just said.

Before Grimmjow had the chance to think about the conversation he had with his mother his person of annoyance was walking into the room to trying and talk to him.

"Your friend was really nice." Was the only thing he said before he went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water.

"Are you saying that you liked him?" Grimmjow asked.

"He's a very nice boy." Aizen repeated before going over to the stairs.

After sitting on the couch for another couple minutes he stood up and went into his room. He reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone.

"Are you okay?" was the first thing Grimmjow asked as soon as he herd Ulquiorra answer at the other end of the line.

"Um, yeah…I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Ulquiorra replied.

"Well because it looked like I might have gotten you in trouble, with your dad you know." Grimmjow said.

"No that's just how he is most of the time." Ulquiorra replied. Grimmjow couldn't put his finger on it but there was something about his voice that made Grimmjow think that he was lying. It was like there really was something wrong but Ulquiorra didn't want to tell him what it was.

"Is that all you called for?" Ulquiorra asked.

"No, not really. It would be nice to talk to you for once instead of you hanging up in my face like you always do" Grimmjow replied.

"I didn't realize that I was hanging up on you," Ulquiorra replied in a playful tone. He knew exactly what he was doing he just liked hanging up on Grimmjow; it was fun to him.

"Most people do say goodbye to END a conversation before they hang up on someone." Grimmjow replied.

"Well if you haven't noticed, I'm not like most people." Ulquiorra replied.

"I know that, you're a lot more interesting." He said. he listened to the sound of Ulquiorra scoffing on the other end of the line.

"Why do you insist on calling me interesting?" Ulquiorra asked.

"You know you are a lot more interesting than you think." Grimmjow answered.

"Yeah, whatever." Ulquiorra said, Grimmjow could tell by the sound of his voice that he was rolling his eyes.

"You know my family really enjoyed you at dinner tonight." Grimmjow said.

"Oh, really?" Ulquiorra asked

"Yeah, my stepfather even said that you were nice." Grimmjow said.

"Wow, that's a new one." Ulquiorra said.

"You're a real smart ass, you know that right?" Grimmjow asked.

"Yes, I am well aware of this." Ulquiorra replied.

"Just one of the things I like about you." Grimmjow said.

"So there are multiple things you like about me?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Too many to name," Grimmjow replied. Ulquiorra let out a small laugh. Grimmjow waited until Ulquiorra was done laughing before he continued to talk.

"So you gonna be my boyfriend or what?" Grimmjow asked quickly.

"Huh?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Don't try to act like you didn't hear me Ulquiorra." Grimmjow challenged playfully. "You heard exactly what I said."

"I know, I heard it but I just…I don't understand why….I mean why would you." Ulquiorra was silent for a minute. Grimmjow sat by nervously a waited for him to answer.

"Yes." He said finally

"Yes?" Grimmjow asked excitedly.

"Yes." Ulquiorra repeated in a calm voice.

"So this is it, it's official." Grimmjow said happily.

"Yes, it is." Ulquiorra added


	13. Sleep

Chapter 13

Sleep

Grimmjow and Ulquiorra's first day back at school was as painful as Ulquiorra had imagined it would be. As it turns out a video of Grimmjow's litter altercation had been circulating around the school since the day of the fight and it had everyone buzzing with excitement. All eyes were on them from the moment they pulled into the parking lot together in Grimmjow's car.

"Great," Ulquiorra said bitterly as he looked around to meet the eyes of his classmates who were still gawking at them. Grimmjow reached over and laced his fingers with Ulquiorra's. He gave his arm a soft tug and pulled the smaller boy closer to him.

"Don't worry about them." Grimmjow said as he continued to walk through the hallways pulled Ulquiorra along beside him.

"I don't like the staring." Ulquiorra said quietly.

"Like I said, don't worry about it." Grimmjow replied.

"How can you be so calm about this?" Ulquiorra asked.

"When you grow up with a full head of light blue hair you get used to stares." Grimmjow replied.

"Right, your hair is weird." Ulquiorra said with a small smile.

"But you like it," he said releasing Ulquiorra's hand and walking away with a smile, Ulquiorra rolled his eyes and followed behind him.

* * *

"Thanks for the ride home." Ulquiorra said as he unhooked his seat belt and reached for the door.

"No problem, um…see you tomorrow." Grimmjow said quietly.

"You know, it's still early, do you want to come inside." Ulquiorra said. He looked down at his hands then back up at Grimmjow.

"Are you inviting me inside your house?" Grimmjow asked with a crooked smile.

"Yeah, I guess I am…but only if you want to." Ulquiorra said as he opened the door and stepped out of the car. Grimmjow killed his car and got out behind Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra reached into his pocket and grabbed his keys. He unlocked the door and the two of them stepped inside the house.

Grimmjow looked around the house. it was simple and clean although the air smelled of liquor and cigarettes. Instead of going into the living room Ulquiorra went directly to the stairs. Grimmjow silently followed Ulquiorra up the sitars and into his bedroom. The rest of the house was clean but it wasn't as clean as Ulquiorra's room. Everything had a place and everything was in its place. Grimmjow looked around the room before finding a spot on the bed to sit.

"Your room is clean." Grimmjow said as he walked over and sat down on his bed.

"Thanks." Ulquiorra replied throwing the bag down next to Grimmjow. Ulquiorra sat down next to Grimmjow avoiding his gaze the entire time.

"Today wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." Grimmjow said trying desperately to start some kind of conversation between the two of them.

"You expected it to be worse?" Ulquiorra asked.

"No, but it could have been." he said slipping his shoes from his feet before pulling them onto the bed. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes before pushing his feet back off his bed.

"I probably wouldn't have been able to handle anything worse than what today was." Ulquiorra replied.

"Well you won't have to; we'll be old news by tomorrow." Grimmjow said as he stretched his arm up above his head and laid back on the bed making himself comfortable.

"What are you doing?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Relaxing," he replied calmly.

"You're messing up my bed." Ulquiorra complained. Grimmjow reached up and grabbed the covers around his head and pulled them from their very neat position into a jumbled bunch in one spot on the bed.

"What the hell Grimmjow." Ulquiorra said as he reached over and tried to straighten his sheets. Grimmjow reached up and grabbed Grimmjow's arms, pulling him down into a tight hug. Ulquiorra put his hands on Grimmjow's chest and tried to push away from Grimmjow but he couldn't get away from Grimmjow's grasp.

"Calm down Ulquiorra." Grimmjow said with a smile.

"I am calm Grimmjow." Ulquiorra replied as he tried to push away from Grimmjow again with no success.

"Then why are you so tense." Grimmjow asked.

"It could be because you've got me wrapped up like you're a strait jacket or something." Ulquiorra replied. "Or because you've taken the liberty of occupying my entire bed."

"There's still some room for you." Grimmjow replied childishly. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes then turned his attention elsewhere.

"What are you thinking about?" Grimmjow asked suddenly, still looking directly at Ulquiorra even though the boy wasn't giving him any attention at all.

"I'm thinking about this." Ulquiorra replied quietly.

"What do you mean?" Grimmjow asked.

"Like how long this will last." Ulquiorra said.

"By this do you mean me and you?" Grimmjow asked

"Yeah, that is what I mean." Ulquiorra said shyly.

"You have doubts then?" Grimmjow asked.

"Not doubts, I knew that it won't last." Ulquiorra replied.

"You know your pessimistic ways are making it really hard for me for me to get comfortable." Grimmjow said in a low voice. He wrapped his arms even tighter around Ulquiorra and pulled the smaller boy onto him.

"I'm not pessimistic, I'm just being realistic." Ulquiorra replied. "What are the odds that ten years from now you will still like me as much as you do now?" he said as he continued to stare up at the ceiling to avoid Grimmjow's gaze.

"It's really only a matter of time before you get tired of me and you leave." Ulquiorra added. Grimmjow shifted his weight to the side leaving enough room for him to push Ulquiorra down onto the bed where he had been laying before.

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not leaving?" Grimmjow said.

"I don't know but you haven't fully convince me yet." Ulquiorra replied. Grimmjow braced himself on the bed against the bed on either side of Ulquiorra's body. Grimmjow leaned down and pressed his lips firmly against Ulquiorra's. Ulquiorra arched his body into Grimmjow, pressing his lips even harder to Grimmjow's. Grimmjow pulled away from him and looked down at Ulquiorra.

"It's going to take a little more than that to convince me otherwise." Ulquiorra said quietly. He looked away from Grimmjow in a failed attempt to hide the dark red color of his cheeks.

"I figured that, but it was worth a shot." Grimmjow said with a small smile.

Grimmjow laid down on the bed in between Ulquiorra and the wall. Maneuvering around in the small bed was a challenge but Grimmjow somehow made it work. He laid on his side and supported his head on his arm, he reached over with his other arm and wrapped it around the smaller boy. He nuzzled into Ulquiorra's hair and closed his eyes.

"You're getting really comfortable there Grimmjow." Ulquiorra said softly.

"Is that your way of putting me out?" Grimmjow asked.

"I know I should put you out, but…I really don't want you to leave." Ulquiorra said still trying to avoid looking in Grimmjow's direction.

"I don't want to leave, and I don't think you should kick me out either." Grimmjow said quietly. Ulquiorra looked over at Grimmjow finally meeting Grimmjow's gaze.

"We have school in the morning." Ulquiorra said.

"We'll make it." Grimmjow replied in a whisper. Ulquiorra turned his attention back to the ceiling and took a deep breath.

"Sleep," Grimmjow insisted.

"Alright, fine." Ulquiorra replied, closing his eyes and making himself as comfortable as possible with another person taking up the majority of the room on his bed.

"Are you sleeping yet?" Grimmjow asked.

"I can't sleep if you keep trying to talk to me." Ulquiorra said.

"….true." he said in a low voice. Ulquiorra gave a small chuckle before curling into the warmth of Grimmjow's body and soon feel asleep.


	14. Cute Together

**Chapter 14**

**Cute Together**

Ulquiorra opened his eyes slightly and turned over. Before he could even attempt to sit up he was pulled back down onto the bed by a pair of strong arms. Ulquiorra opened his eyes fully and looked around the room; The sun was just starting to rise covering the room in a light blue color that made Ulquiorra want to go back to sleep.

Grimmjow pulled him closer and threw his leg over Ulquiorra's body pinning him down to the bed. Ulquiorra struggled to take in a breath against Grimmjow's weight. He wiggled a little them moved in a position that was comfortable enough to fall back asleep.

When he woke up again he was now laying in an incredibly uncomfortable position. Grimmjow still had his leg thrown over the bottom half of Ulquiorra's body. His arms were wrapped around Ulquiorra's upper half holding his arms to his sides.

"Grimmjow," Ulquiorra said quietly. The larger boy gave a small grunt before burying his face in the nook of Ulquiorra's neck.

"Grimmjow, wake up." Ulquiorra said in a louder voice.

"5 more minutes." Grimmjow replied.

"No, get up now." Ulquiorra said. He wiggled his body trying his hardest to get Grimmjow off of his body.

Grimmjow grunted loudly before he removed his leg from Grimmjow's body. Ulquiorra pushed away from Grimmjow and rolled off the bed. Ulquiorra stood up and looked around the room.

'Shit," Ulquiorra whispered to himself when he realized that his door, which had been open the night before, was now closed. Someone had come into his room in the middle of the night and closed his door. Without another word he walked out of the door and into the hallway. The house was quiet so he knew that his father wasn't home. There was probably no way that his father would have continued to let the both of them sleep if he found the two of them there together.

He walked downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Good morning sweetie." Said the familiar voice from behind him, his whole body relaxed when his mind finally registered the voice and realized it's owner.

"Hey mom," Ulquiorra said quietly as he turned to face his mother.

"You slept well I presume," she said with a small smile. Ulquiorra looked down at his feet and then back up at his mother.

"Uh…yeah," Ulquiorra replied.

"You talk to each other." She said suddenly.

"What?" Ulquiorra asked.

"When I went into your room, to see if you were awake that's when I saw the two of you." She said.

"Oh," Ulquiorra said.

"When I walked in you turned over, I thought you were awake so I went all the way over to your bed. He was mumbling something and you elbowed him in the stomach and told him to shut up. Then he smiled and pulled you closer to him." she said with an amused smile. Ulquiorra smiled them looked down at his feet again.

"Oh," he said finally, not knowing what else to say.

"You two are really cute together," she said with a smile. Unlike his father his mother saw no problem with the fact that he wasn't interested in girls like the majority of the boys his age. No matter what his mother accepted him for who he is and never thought twice about it.

"Thanks mom." Ulquiorra said.

"Breakfast should be ready in about 30 minutes; you should go wake your friend up." She said as she walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. Ulquiorra nodded then turned and headed up the stairs. When he got to his room Grimmjow was still sprawled out on his bed sleeping. Ulquiorra walked over and looked down at Grimmjow.

"Get up Grimmjow," Ulquiorra said.

"No," Grimmjow whined childishly. He turned over and faced his back to Ulquiorra.

"Grimmjow stop acting like a child, get up right now." he said sternly.

"Ugh," Grimmjow said as he rolled over and looked at Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra took a step back giving Grimmjow enough room to stand from his bed.

"You act like my mom." Grimmjow said with a small smile.

"And you act like a spoiled child." Ulquiorra replied. "My mother is making breakfast for all of us, make yourself presentable."

"I'm always presentable, you're the one who looks unruly." Grimmjow said with a smile.

"Shut the hell up." Ulquiorra said with a roll of his eyes.

"So rude," Grimmjow said. He ran his fingers through his hair and walked out of the room. Ulquiorra followed behind him silently.

When they got downstairs his mother was in the kitchen still cooking. Grimmjow walked into the kitchen and stood near the sink.

"Good morning Mrs. Cifer," he said politely.

"Um…Good morning," She said with a kind smile.

"Thank you for preparing breakfast for myself and your beautiful son." He said looking over to smile at Ulquiorra.

"Shut up Grimmjow." Ulquiorra said as he walked over to Grimmjow to give the boy a firm punch in the ribs. Grimmjow grabbed his abdomen and frowned.

"You punch a lot harder than you think you do." Grimmjow complained.

"You think I hit you that hard on accident?" Ulquiorra asked.

"If you know you can hit so hard then why do you insist on not defending yourself?" Grimmjow asked.

"Why would he need to defend himself?" His mother asked. Ulquiorra turned his back to her and shot Grimmjow a death glare that his mother couldn't see. Grimmjow pressed his lips together and looked away from him.

"I'm just speaking in general; he's a very non-confrontational person." Grimmjow mumbled.

"Yes he's always been that way." She replied.

"He'll probably be this way for the rest of his life." Grimmjow mumbled.

After breakfast was finished the three of them sat down and ate their food. The extremely tensed conversation they had in the kitchen did nothing to Grimmjow's appetite. He sat there shoveling eggs and bacon into his mouth like he's never seen food before. Ulquiorra finished his food and sat back in his chair to watch Grimmjow.

"You sure are a healthy eater." Said Ulquiorra's mother as she watched Grimmjow finish off every stray piece of food on the plate in front of him.

"I just really enjoy good food." Grimmjow said as he reached for his glass of orange juice. Ulquiorra's mother smiled before moving to clear the table.

"You should get going, you know, you need to get ready for school and you don't have any cloths here." Ulquiorra said as he stood from the table.

"Right," Grimmjow said. He leaned back in his chair but didn't move to stand up.

"Well, get going." Ulquiorra said.

"What are you talking about?" Grimmjow asked.

"You need to get ready for school, get up and get out of here." Ulquiorra said simply.

"I'm waiting for you, c'mon move your ass." Grimmjow said standing from the chair.

"Don't curse in my house." Ulquiorra replied as he turned and headed for the stairs.

"I wouldn't have to if you would hurry up," Grimmjow replied.

Ulquiorra rolled his eyes before going up the stairs to his room. He grabbed his uniform then went to the bathroom to take a shower. After he was done he pulled on his uniform and made sure that his hair was just as limp and lifeless as he liked it. When he walked out of the bathroom he found Grimmjow waiting by the door for him to walk out of the bathroom.

"Alright ulqui, get your book bag if we leave now we'll only miss first hour." He said to Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra ran into his room and grabbed his book bag from the floor near his bedroom door.

"It was nice to meet you Grimmjow." said his mother from the kitchen. "You should come back again." she said with a kind smile.

"Will do Mrs. Cifer." He said with a polite smile and a wave before the two of them walked out of the front door.

"Since when are you so polite?" Ulquiorra asked as they walked down the driveway to Grimmjow's car.

"There isn't any chance in hell that your old man is going to like me. I have to get in good somewhere." He replied.

"Well don't get too excited, my mom likes everyone she meets." Ulquiorra replied.

"You are a professional buzz killer." Grimmjow said, he stopped cold in his tracks and frowned.

"It's one of my many hidden talents." Ulquiorra replied with a small smirk. Grimmjow rolled his eyes.


	15. One More Question

Chapter 15

One More Question

_The touch of your skin, the soft tickling feeling of your hair brushing against my cheek, the sound of your slow steady breathing, I love it. I love everything about you when your sleep. You're absolutely beautiful when your face isn't filled with worry._

Ever since that night in Ulquiorra's room Grimmjow made a habit out of staying the night over at Ulquiorra's house. He didn't mind the scolding he got from his mother when he returned home the next morning after being out of the house the entire night.

After the first couple of nights she stopped yelling all together. She would still come out of her room in the morning and ask him where he had been, but she would never say anything other than that. After he'd answered she'd nod then go back into her room. After he'd finished getting ready for school he'd get back in his car and drive back to Ulquiorra's house to pick him up.

Grimmjow didn't have a problem with the constant back and forth from Ulquiorra's house to his own then back to school. To him a good night's sleep was worth it, the only time Grimmjow didn't sleep soundly was when Ulquiorra forced him to go home and sleep in his own bed. When in his room he would just toss and turn until he finally gave up on falling asleep and just sat awake the entire night.

"You look horrible." Ulquiorra said bluntly. He closed Grimmjow's car door and pulled on his seat belt.

"You're really not one for subtlety are you?" Grimmjow replied. Grimmjow rolled his eyes and played with the radio until he found a station that he liked. After he was done he pulled away from the curb and headed in the direction of their school.

"I wasn't trying to be rude, I was just saying that you look really tired." Ulquiorra said.

"You could have just said that then." Grimmjow said rolling his eyes again.

"I'll remember that for next time." Ulquiorra said as he turned into the parking lot and parked in their usual parking spot.

"These bags are your fault, I hope you know that." Grimmjow said pointing to his eyes quickly before he climbed out of the car and closed the door behind him.

"How is that my fault?" Ulquiorra asked slamming his own door entirely too hard.

"What the hell Ulquiorra? How many times do I have to tell you to watch how hard your slamming my damned door!?" Grimmjow yelled.

"Your door is fine Grimmjow, now answer my question." Ulquiorra demanded.

"It's because you keep sending me home, I can't sleep without you there." Grimmjow replied.

"You can try to butter me up all you want but you still can't spend the night tonight." Ulquiorra said as he walked around the car and headed in the direction of the school. Grimmjow jogged over and fell into step with Ulquiorra.

"Why not?" Grimmjow asked.

"Because I said you can't." Ulquiorra replied.

"Is your dad home?" Grimmjow asked. He didn't know why he asked the question, he just asked. If Ulquiorra didn't want to let him come over there must have been a reason for it. Grimmjow knew that Ulquiorra's mother liked him so the reason had to be his father.

"Yes, he came home a few days ago." Ulquiorra answered. He looked away from Grimmjow and swiftly made his way through the hallway to their classroom.

'What's he hiding from me?' Grimmjow thought to himself as he watched Ulquiorra take a seat at his desk. 'I don't like secrets; I'm gonna find out what he's hiding if it's the last thing I do'

"I'll see you tomorrow." Grimmjow said as he reached over the middle console and grabbed Ulquiorra by the sleeve. With a soft tug he pulled the smaller boy over to him, he kissed him on the cheek then back away. He watched as the cheek he had just kissed turned bright red as if his lips had lit them on fire. Before he could open his mouth to speak Ulquiorra was already cutting him short.

"See you Grimmjow, have a good night's sleep." He said quickly before he pushed the door open and got out of the car.

He sat and watched as Ulquiorra walked up his driveway and up to the front door. Grimmjow idled in his car until Ulquiorra walked through his front door. After that he just couldn't make himself pull away from Ulquiorra's house. This was a major setback in his plans, Ulquiorra ran away from him before he could even get a word out. Grimmjow looked up at the house again, something catching his eye as he did so. The upstairs window. Grimmjow smiled as a new course of action came into mind.

"Perfect," He said as he slammed his fists again the wheel. He pulled away from Ulquiorra's house and made a quick U-turn at the end of the street. He drove back up the street the parked his car in front of an empty house on Ulquiorra's street. He got out of the car and locked the doors behind him. Grimmjow pushed his hands into his pockets and walked up the street two houses until he reached Ulquiorra's house.

He went around the back of the house and looked for Ulquiorra's window. He didn't know exactly which window was Ulquiorra's but he knew he could find it. All he had to do was find the view that he could see from Ulquiorra's window when he was inside the house. He walked around to the back of the house and saw that there was one light on upstairs.

"Alright, I know what window it is. Now how the hell am I gonna get up there?" Grimmjow said to himself as he eyed the back of the house.

Ulquiorra grabbed his pajamas then went into the bathroom to take a shower. He went into the bathroom and turned on the water before he realized that he had forgotten to grab a pair of socks. He walked out of the bathroom and back into his room. He grabbed his socks from his drawer and pushed it closed.

"Why is this open?" Ulquiorra asked himself as he walked over to his window. He closed the open window then pulled the blinds closed. He picked up the socks from his dresser and walked back into the bathroom for his shower.

'He Doesn't even lock his window," Grimmjow said to himself as he threw himself pushed tin window up the fell through landing hard on the floor of Ulquiorra's room. Grimmjow stood to his feet in just enough time to hear the door knob twisting. He ran over to the closet and jumped inside.

He watched Ulquiorra walk into the room and closed the door behind him.

"Why is this open?" he heard Ulquiorra say. He sat silently and watched the small teen walk over to his window and closed it loudly.

'So it isn't just my car door, he slams everything closed,' Grimmjow thought as he watched Ulquiorra. After Ulquiorra exited the room he Grimmjow tumbled out of the closet and headed for the door. He peaked out into the hallway before quickly going across the hallway to the bathroom.

He opened the door and slipped inside closing it softly behind him, making sure he didn't make a single loud noise. Grimmjow smiled to himself when he saw Ulquiorra's discarded cloths scattered about the floor. Ulquiorra had already stepped into the shower and didn't hear Grimmjow come into the bathroom. He smiled again when he heard soft humming on the other side of the shower curtain. He flipped the toilet lid down and sat down on top of it.

"You know, I never pictured you as the type to sing in the shower, but you don't sound that bad." Grimmjow said. He looked up to see Ulquiorra pulled the shower curtain back, his eyes as big as dinner plates.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Ulquiorra asked making sure his body was covered by the curtain.

"I really don't have an answer to the question. It was a spur of the moment type of thing." Grimmjow replied coolly.

"Get the hell out, better yet go home!" he said in a loud voice.

"Why? I'm not hurting anyone." Grimmjow replied. There was a loud bang on the bathroom door.

"Who the hell are you in there talking to boy!" yelled a deep voice from the other side of the door.

"No one dad, I just… almost fell on the floor." Ulquiorra yelled. The man on the other side of the door replied, but the noise from the shower was too loud for them to hear what Ulquiorra's father had said. Ulquiorra cut the water off but stayed in the shower.

"Hand me my towel." Ulquiorra said.

"It's kind of far away; I think you should come out here and get it yourself." Grimmjow replied with a smirk that he knew Ulquiorra couldn't see.

"I'm not playing with you Grimmjow, grim me the damned towel." He said sticking his arm out of the shower to receiver the towel. Grimmjow leaned over and grabbed the towel from the counter and placed it in his hand. A minute later he emerged from the shower with the towel wrapped tightly around his waist.

"You look nice in that." Grimmjow said with a smile.

"Shut up, and keep your voice down. If my dad catches you in here it'll be the end of both of us." Ulquiorra said. He walked over to the sink and grabbed his pajamas. Grimmjow stood from the toilet and walked over to Ulquiorra. On his arms he could see the bruises that were normally covered by his clothing. It surprised them how many bruises actually covered the young boy's body, and his pale skin did nothing to hide them from the rest of the world. In fact Grimmjow had never seen Ulquiorra in a shirt that's sleeves weren't at least shoulder length. Grimmjow felt his stomach turn when he saw the gigantic bruise on his back that nearly covered his entire shoulder blade.

"You're dad sounds like a pretty mean guy." Grimmjow said. Ulquiorra didn't reply, Grimmjow reached out and lightly touched the dark bruises on his arm. He watched as Ulquiorra's face twisted in pain. Instead of screaming the smaller boy simply leaned away from him and continued to dress himself.

Ulquiorra slipped his boxers and pajama pants underneath the towel and pulled them up before he let the damp towel fall to the floor.

"He isn't a nice guy…he never was." Ulquiorra said in a low voice.

"He must be pretty strong." Grimmjow said mindlessly. "It takes a pretty hard blow to leave a mark this big." He reached out again and lightly placed his hand on the giant bruise on Ulquiorra's back. Ulquiorra stepped away and quickly pulled his shirt over his head.

"We have to get you out of here before my dad finds you." He said as he grabbed his dirty clothes from the floor and threw them into the hamper.

Ulquiorra pushed Grimmjow behind the door before he opened it and stepped into the hallway.

"Who the hell are you in there talking to!?" asked his father. He shoved Ulquiorra away from the door and stormed into the bathroom.

'Please don't do this to me' Ulquiorra begged as he turned his gaze up towards the ceiling. Ulquiorra father stepped back out of the bathroom and into the hallway.

"Crazy ass kid, in here talking to his damned self n' shit." Grumbled his father as he pushed past Ulquiorra again to get to the stairs, His steps were wobbly and he was barely able to keep himself up right on his own. Ulquiorra could tell that his father was well beyond drunk. Even if he had seen Grimmjow he probably wouldn't have been able to do anything about it without falling flat on his ass in the process.

Once his father had disappeared down the stairs and he was sure that he was alone in the hallway he went back into the bathroom.

"He could have seen you," Ulquiorra said.

"He almost did," Grimmjow replied, his blood still racing from the close encounter he had just had. Ulquiorra walked out of the bathroom and across to his own room with Grimmjow flowing closely behind.

"Why are you here anyway, do you have a death wish or something?" Ulquiorra asked after his door was closed.

"I don't think your father was anywhere near sober enough to be able to kill me." Grimmjow replied.

"That wouldn't have stopped him from trying." Ulquiorra replied. He walked over to the bed and sat down. The room fell silent as the two of them stared at each other from opposite sides of the room.

"You have go Grimmjow," Ulquiorra said finally.

"I know, but before I do I have to ask you something." Grimmjow said. He walked over and took a seat next to Grimmjow on the bed.

"What?" Grimmjow asked.

"Will you tell me the truth?" Grimmjow asked.

"I will if you promise to go straight home right after." Ulquiorra answered.

"Does he hit you?" Grimmjow asked.

"I'll take that as a promise that you'll go home." Ulquiorra replied.

"Answer the question." Grimmjow replied with a frown.

"Who is he?" Ulquiorra asked softly.

"Your dad," Grimmjow replied.

"Why asked a question you already know the answer to?" Ulquiorra asked. Grimmjow looked over at him.

"I had an idea that it was him, but I wanted to know for sure. You know, just taking a mental note of all of the asses that I'll have to kick in the future." Grimmjow said.

"Violence will only lead to more violence," Ulquiorra said softly as he stood from the bed. "Alright you've asked your question now it's time for you to go."

"One more question before you kick me out," Grimmjow said. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes.

"I'm not kicking you out, you agreed to leave after I answered your question." Ulquiorra said.

"Why do you let him?" Grimmjow asked going directly back to the previous topic of conversation.

"I can't stop him," Ulquiorra replied.

"You ever thought about leaving?" Grimmjow asked.

"I don't have anywhere to go," Ulquiorra replied. Grimmjow nodded.

"If you ever found a place to go would you leave?" Grimmjow asked. Ulquiorra stood from his bed and went over to the window.

"You said one more question and I answered two, it's time for you to leave." Ulquiorra said. Grimmjow nodded again and stood from the bed. He wrapped his arms around Ulquiorra and pulled him close.

"See you tomorrow," Grimmjow said in a low voice. He leaned down and kissed him softly on the lips.

"See you tomorrow, goodnight Grimmjow." Ulquiorra replied. He turned his attention away from Grimmjow's gaze and looked towards the ground.

Grimmjow hugged him tightly before letting go completely and going over to the window. He pulled back the curtains and raised both the blinds and the window. Ulquiorra didn't know exactly how Grimmjow got down from his second story window but he did. After Grimmjow was out of sight Ulquiorra closed the window and laid down on the bed.

'If you ever found a place to go would you leave?' Ulquiorra played the question in his mind over and over again.

"In a heartbeat Grimmjow, in a heartbeat." Ulquiorra answered.


	16. An Understanding

Chapter 15

An Understanding

'_I don't have anywhere to go.'_ Grimmjow let this response play in his head over and over again. The truth of the statement hurt him almost as much as the fact that Ulquiorra didn't answer his question. He really didn't have anywhere to go; if he would try to leave he would have to right back to home to his father, who would probably welcome him with open arms and a fist to the stomach.

"Dammit, this isn't fair." Grimmjow said aloud as he continued to pace the floor of his room.

"What isn't fair?" asked a voice from his door. Grimmjow didn't have the time or the patience to deal with any company. Especially the company of his stepfather, Aizen pushed his hands into his pockets before he walked into the room and sat down on the bed.

"Nothing you need to be concerned with; you don't care anyway." Grimmjow replied bitterly.

"If I didn't care I wouldn't have taken the time to stop and ask you what was bothering you." Aizen replied coolly.

"Like I said it doesn't concern you," Grimmjow replied.

"I know you don't want me involved but that doesn't mean that I can't be some sort of help to you." Aizen said.

"Your right, I don't want to involve you with this, and I don't want your help." Grimmjow said.

"You don't like me do you?" Aizen asked.

"Does it matter?" Grimmjow challenged.

"You know, I've always wanted kids." Aizen said absentmindedly.

"Why didn't you just have kids then?" Grimmjow asked.

"I can't have children." Aizen replied quickly, the corners of his mouth were turn down into a frown. Grimmjow looked at the man in shock; he'd never seen that man's face hold anything less than the shit-eating smirk he always wore. Seeing him frown was a lot more unsettling that seeing him normally.

"Why not?"

"I'd rather not go into detail." Aizen replied.

"So my mom was perfect for you, a pretty woman and a couple of kids all packaged into one." Grimmjow replied bitterly.

"That's one way to look at it, but I never saw her that way." He replied.

"So how did you see her?" Grimmjow asked.

"You know I've actually known your mother longer than you think. We used to work together in high school, at a small restaurant; it's where I got the idea for the sandwich shop." He said. Grimmjow nodded and continued to listen to the story that Aizen was telling. He didn't like his step-father but that didn't mean that he was completely ignorant of his ways. If you asked Aizen a question you would have to wait a while before you got the answer to the question you originally asked.

"We even attended the same high school, but she never really gave me the time of day seeing as how I wasn't what one would call attractive in my teenage years. When we met back up at our high school reunion it's like all the pieces to the puzzle had fallen into place. Your mother was looking for a stable relationship to prove for her children and I was looking to settle down and find a family that I could share my livelihood with." He said.

"So you saw her as the perfect chance at the life you've always wanted?" Grimmjow asked.

"More like a second chance," he replied.

"So what happened the first time?" Grimmjow asked as he crossed the room and took a seat next to Aizen on the bed to rest his feet. He had been pacing around his room since he had come home about an hour and a half ago and it was starting to make his feet hurt.

"Your mother will kill me if I tell you this story," he said.

"She'll never know; it'll be between the two of us." Grimmjow said.

"Alright," Aizen said unsurely before he continued his story.

"Start at the beginning," Grimmjow added. Aizen nodded.

"Her name was Elizabeth; she was a student from America that had come to the local university as a part of some type of abroad learning thing that they do in America." He said

"Study abroad, it when they come to another country to go to school." Grimmjow informed Aizen nodded again.

"I fell so fast and so hard that my love sickness quickly clouded my better judgment. I asked her to stay here with me, she could have stayed, but she insisted that she had to go back to America to be with her family. After spending a night together I asked her to marry me, I even had a ring." He said.

"Any girl I know would jump at the chance to be married to a rich man like you Aizen." Grimmjow said.

"Well I defiantly wasn't a rich man after that night," he replied.

"What?"

"By the time I woke up the next morning everything was gone, the ring, my wallet, the keys to my car." He said shaking his head.

"She stole it?" Grimmjow asked.

"Everything I owned. She even took the liberty of emptying out ever bank account that I had at the time." He said.

"How much did she make off with?" Grimmjow asked.

"Well, all of my savings that I have been collecting since I was 18 years old plus the 9% compound interest from the saving account that has been left untouched until that day. I would estimate that she got away with close to a million dollars. Plus the ring and my car." He said.

"You could have gone after here, you should have hunted her down and gotten your money back." Grimmjow said.

"I could have, but when I contacted the study abroad program she claimed to be participating in they told me that there was no one by the name of Elizabeth Williams enrolled in their program." He said

"So she was a scam artist." Grimmjow asked.

"And I fell for her like a bag full of rocks." Aizen commented.

"Damn," Grimmjow said.

"So that bring me back to my initial question." She said.

"And what was that?" Grimmjow asked.

"Your opinion of me," Aizen said.

"I mean…I don't hate you," Grimmjow said not really wanting to share his true feelings for the man sitting next to him. Aizen cut his eyes at Grimmjow and frowned again.

"If I wanted I lie in response I would have asked for it." Aizen replied flashing his signature smirk and a bewildered Grimmjow.

"Well, you don't like me either." Grimmjow said quickly.

"And when did I say that?" Aizen asked.

"You didn't have to, it's written all over you face. Every time you see me walk into a room, when I speak, even when I breathe; it's like everything that I do is wrong to you." Grimmjow said.

"Not wrong, I just don't understand it." Aizen said. Grimmjow turned his attention to Aizen who was sitting on his bed studying the carpet on the floor. Aizen wasn't looking at him but the comment still caught him off guard.

"What, you don't understand the way I act?" Grimmjow asked.

"No, you as a person, your mother and sister are very easy for me to understand but you are more like a complete mystery." Aizen said.

"All of the fun in a mystery is figuring out the meaning behind them." Grimmjow replied.

"I was never fond of mysteries as I child, I like things to be straight forward and precise. The disarray and uncertainty of a mystery is very off-putting to me." he replied.

"Well for a mystery I do think that I am rather straight forward." Grimmjow said with a polite smile.

"They I don't understand why I can't figure you out." he said shaking his head again.

"That's your problem." Grimmjow said.

"What?" Aizen asked.

"You're trying too hard; I think that you would be a lot more successful in figuring me out if you would stop trying so hard." Grimmjow said simply.

"I don't get it," he said.

"I'm a person Aizen, not a puzzle, and on top of that I'm still maturing. I'm going to change; I won't always be this precise little piece of your life that you can study and dissect like every other thing in your life." Grimmjow said

"That might be the reason that I've been a loner for the majority of my life." Aizen said.

"You Care to Elaborate?" Grimmjow asked. Aizen smiled at the use of one of his famous lines being used on him.

"I've always had trouble when dealing with people, I could never understand them and vice versa so we never got along" he said. "I had no friends for the greater part of my life, that is until I met your mother."

"Really?" I asked.

"Your mother was the only one who was nice to me in high school. Despite my crippling awkwardness she still tried to be my friend. When I saw her again at the reunion it was like our last day of high school, the day we graduated and everyone said goodbye. I watched her mother walk away from the front of the school and it felt like my whole world was crashing down on me. When I saw her again I knew we would have to say goodbye at the end of the night." he said.

"So you were desperate." Grimmjow said.

"Maybe, I might have even been lonely. Whatever I was at the time I knew that I didn't want to miss out on a chance at happiness." Aizen said.

"So after everything you had been through you were still willing to take a chance on her." Grimmjow asked.

"Yes, it hasn't let me down yet and until it does I refuse to believe that I made the wrong decision in asking her out on a date." He replied.

"So you asked her out right then and there?" Grimmjow asked.

"Yes, we left the reunion and went out to dinner." He said.

"For you to not have any luck with people you seem to be real lucky with the ladies." Grimmjow joked nudging Aizen with his elbow.

"If you say so," Aizen replied.

"Wow," Grimmjow said vaguely.

"What?" Aizen asked.

"We're having a conversation," Grimmjow said. "And we haven't started arguing with each other."

"Never thought that would be possible," Aizen replied with a small smile.

"Me either," Grimmjow agreed. Grimmjow turned his gaze back to Aizen again. The arrogant pompous asshole that Grimmjow knew as his stepfather was completely gone. He watched Aizen as he leaned over and picked lint from the sock on his foot.

'So this is the real Aizen?' Grimmjow thought to he continued to watch Aizen intently.

"I don't hate you." Grimmjow said in a low voice. Aizen lifted his head and looked at Grimmjow he could tell that by the look on Aizen's face that he was surprised by what Grimmjow had just said.

"I just couldn't understand you either." Grimmjow replied. "You're just awkward, and sarcastic, and you can sometimes act like a bit of an ass, but that's just you."

"What?" Aizen asked.

"it's just the way you are, I thought that you were behaving that way on purpose just to get under my skin, but you were just being yourself." Grimmjow said.

"Did you just call me an awkward, sarcastic ass?" Aizen asked.

"Not as an insult, I meant it as more of a compliment." Grimmjow replied.

"And oddly, I'm not offended by this remark." Aizen replied. They both laughed.

"So…" Grimmjow said. "Does this mean we understand each other now?" he asked.

"I guess it does," Aizen said with a nod. "I think that we've come to an agreement."

"You respect me and I'll respect you." Grimmjow held a hand out to his stepfather in a kind way. Aizen looked at his hand apprehensively before taking it in his own. Both men smiled.

"No more matchmaking." Grimmjow said. Aizen nodded in agreement.

"No more questions." Aizen said. Grimmjow nodded in response.

"No more arguments." Grimmjow said. Aizen nodded again.

"I'll agree to it, but I must admit that I will miss our little disagreements over mash potatoes and roast beef." He replied with a small smile.

"We'll have to find something new to argue about now that we've reached an agreement on this." Grimmjow said.

"Not an agreement, an understanding." Aizen corrected.

So I've been getting closer and closer to the end of the story, I don't know how many chapters I have left but I do know that the end is soon. BUT don't worry because I have been thinking about a follow up story that will come after this one, I just have to finish My Safe Haven first.

Well I guess that's it. I just wanted to share that little piece of information with you guys before I actually end the story. I'll announce the name of the follow up story when I post the last chapter . Enjoy everyone.


	17. A Place To Go

Chapter 17

A Place to Go

It was Saturday and Grimmjow promised Nel on Tuesday that he would bring her to the park so that she could play with other kids. Grimmjow rolled out of bed and went in the bathroom to brush his teeth. By the time he was finished Nel was dresses and ready to go. She was running around in circles waiting for Grimmjow to finish getting ready.

"Is Kitty's friend coming to the park with us?" Nel asked.

"Yes he is," Grimmjow replied.

"Are we going to get chicken nuggets after we go to the park?" she pressed. Grimmjow smiled.

"Maybe," Grimmjow replied as he grabbed his keys from the dresser and walked out of his room Nel ran around him in circles as he walked down the stairs and out of the front door.

By the time they arrived at Ulquiorra's house Nel was cutting backflips in the backseat.

"Nel needs to put on a seat belt." Grimmjow said.

"But Nel doesn't want to," she whined. Grimmjow stared out the passenger side window watched Ulquiorra walk from his front door tot eh car. Ulquiorra opened the door and slipped into the passenger's seat. He pulled on his seat belt before twisting around to look at the squirming girl in the back seat.

"Why don't you have a seat belt on?" Ulquiorra asked calmly.

"Nel doesn't like wearing them." she replied. Ulquiorra frowned.

"But if we get in an accident you can get hurt." He said. "Your brother will be really sad if you get hurt."

"Nel doesn't want Kitty to be sad; Nel will put on her seat belt." She said straightening up in the seat and pulled her seat belt on.

"I need you to teach me how you do that," Grimmjow said with a smile.

"All you have to do is talk to her; she listens to anything if you ask her nicely." Ulquiorra said indifferently. Grimmjow started the car and headed in the direction of the park.

Nel ran around in circles to her heart's delight. With all the free space at the park she could ran all she wanted to without the fear of knocking something down and breaking it. She didn't need to worry about being told to quiet down or stop running.

After hours of running through dirt and autumn leaves Nel had succeeded in draining all of her energy. After she was done Grimmjow carried her into the car and laid her into the backseat.

"I'll see you tomorrow Ulquiorra." Grimmjow said as he watched Ulquiorra take his seatbelt off and climb from the car.

"See you Grimmjow." Ulquiorra replied with a calm smile. He closed the door behind him and walked into his house. Grimmjow pulled away from the curb and drove to his house.

"Are you walking or am I carrying you?" Grimmjow asked the silence. When he got no answer from the backseat he nodded and got out of the car. He opened the back door and picked her up. She leaned her body against him and buried her face in his chest; he wrapped his arms around her and brought her inside.

"So you're staying at home tonight?" asked his mother when she saw him walk through the door. He nodded and handed Nel over to his mother.

"Yeah, you know, I had to bring her back." Grimmjow said to his mother.

"You alright son?" Aizen asked giving non regard to the fact that Aizen has just referred to him as son.

"Grimmjow you're starting to worry me again." said his mother.

"Sorry mom…just thinking," He said.

"About?" Aizen pressed.

"Would it be alright if I moved into the vacation home?" he asked bluntly. His mother's eyes widened.

"Why would you want to move out?" she asked.

"He isn't safe where he is, I need to keep him safe." Grimmjow replied to no one in particular.

"Safe from what?" she asked.

"The bruises," Grimmjow answered.

"I still don't understand what's going on." Aizen said with a confused look on his face.

"His dad hits him…hard." Grimmjow said. Aizen looked down to the ground with a deep frown covering his face.

"How hard?" Aizen asked.

"He has a bruise on his back that almost covers his entire back and cuts all over his body, he won't tell me exactly how he got them all but I do they came from his dad." Grimmjow said.

"So you've seen them." his mother said.

"They're really hard to miss." Grimmjow said.

"You really like him don't you?" Aizen asked.

"Yes," Grimmjow answered.

"And you would do anything for him?" he pressed.

"Anything," Grimmjow said.

Aizen nodded and stood from his place on the couch and walked out of the room. When he returned he stood right in front of Grimmjow.

"I have my reservations about you moving out at such a young age, but I know you have good intentions." Aizen said as he wrestled with the key ring in his hands. He took on key off and handed the rest of them to Grimmjow. "I wouldn't trust my second home to anyone else."

"So…This is a yes? I can go?" Grimmjow asked.

"I'm giving you the keys aren't I?" Aizen replied. He looked to his mother; she smiled and nodded before taking the keys from Aizen's hands.

'Everything is going to work out…hopefully.' Grimmjow thought to himself as he pushed the keys into his pocket and walked into his room.

The next morning Grimmjow woke up early and got dressed. He was way too anxious to sleep so he figured he would go out and get breakfast with Ulquiorra. (Even though Ulquiorra didn't know about it) He sat outside of Ulquiorra's house and called his phone until he sat outside of Ulquiorra's house and called his phone until he walked outside and got in the car.

"Why are you always waking me up so early?" Ulquiorra asked. He was tired and Grimmjow knew it.

"Pancakes or waffles?" Grimmjow asked. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes.

"Waffles," Ulquiorra replied.

"Waffles it is," Grimmjow replied.

"So you woke me up at 7:30 on Saturday to take me out for breakfast?" Ulquiorra asked as the two of them walked through the front door of the restaurant. They sat down in a booth and waited for the waitress to come and take their order. There wasn't anyone else there so it wasn't long before they had their food and drinks at their table.

"You know, you still haven't answered my question." Grimmjow said as he watched Ulquiorra picking at the food on the plate in front of him.

"What question?" Ulquiorra asked.

"If you had a place to go would you leave?" Grimmjow asked.

"I can't afford a place to stay…so, no I wouldn't. I eventually have to come back, so there's no point in trying to leave." Ulquiorra replied.

"You're missing the point completely." Grimmjow said.

"So what is the point?" Ulquiorra asked.

"If there was a place you could escape to, far away from here, that was completely safe and there was no chance that you would have to come back, would you go?" Grimmjow asked.

"I guess so, but I place like that doesn't exist, and I wouldn't be able to leave my old life completely. I would still want to talk to my mother." He said.

"1483 Cherokee Way." Grimmjow said simply.

"What?"

"It's about a 4 hour drive, that's pretty far but not too closes. 3 bedrooms, 2 and a half bathrooms, it even has a pool." He said.

"What about my mother?" Ulquiorra asked.

"All the telephones you'll ever need, and I'm pretty sure there's a computer too. So you can e-mail her all you want." Grimmjow said.

"And your family is okay with this?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Nel wasn't happy when she found out but I promised that I would let her come and spend the weekends with us whenever she wanted." he said.

"And school?"

"There's another high school about 20 minutes away." Grimmjow answered. Ulquiorra's gaze shifted down tot eh table in between the two of them. It seemed like Grimmjow already had everything figured out. He even knew how to get their transfer papers so that they could enroll in the new school closer to the new house.

"I need to talk to my parents about this." Ulquiorra said.

"So you would leave?" Grimmjow asked with a big smile.

"That's what I just agreed to." Ulquiorra replied with a smile of his own.


	18. Moving In

Author's Note:

Sorry for the long wait guys I was working on updating all my stories around the same time so that's why I was holding onto this chapter for so long enjoy!

Chapter 18

Moving In

Ulquiorra stepped through the front door of his house to find it exactly as it was before he left. The only difference was the distinct smell of steaming vegetables coming from the kitchen. He sat his bag down near the door and walked into the house.

His father was still lying in his chair snoring loudly as the TV boomed loudly in front of him. Ulquiorra shook his head, his father always falls asleep in his chair with the TV turned up extremely too loud. In the kitchen his mother was standing near the stove working on whatever it was she was cooking in the pot in front of her.

"Hey sweetie, I was wondering when you would be coming home." she beamed before quickly turning her attention back to the food she was preparing.

"Hey, what are you cooking?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Chicken and steamed vegetables," she replied simply. Ulquiorra nodded.

After the food was done and his father was woken up the three of the sat down at the small dinner table and started eating.

"So, what did you do today?" Ulquiorra's mother asked him. Ulquiorra didn't answer as quickly as he knew he could, when he was in front of his father he always had to plan out exactly what he was going to say to make it sound like his life was as boring as the old grouch tried to make it.

"I spent the day in the library, with friends." Ulquiorra replied. His mother gave a knowing nod and his father didn't reply. After Ulquiorra was finished eating he sat there contemplating the route he would take for the next conversation he was planning to start. It had to be done because he already told Grimmjow he would do it, and if he didn't say anything now he would probably never get this chance again.

"Mom, Dad, can I ask you something." Ulquiorra asked finally. His mother nodded again and his father frowned.

"Make it quick," said his father in a bitter tone.

Ulquiorra rolled his eyes then looked back at his mother.

"Would it be okay if I moved out?" he asked. his mother's eyes went wide telling him that he had failed in his attempt to try to make the question sound as simple as possible. His mother looked down at her plate the over to Ulquiorra's father.

"About damned time you got the hell out of here," he said in a cheery way, like he was actually happy for once in his miserable life. "Go ahead, get the hell out, but don't think you can come back one you leave." He added. Ulquiorra nodded, he looked over at his mother, and she smiled.

"I want you to make sure that you're in a safe place, the world outside this house is dangerous. You need to be careful." She warned. Ulquiorra nodded again. "And I want you to keep in touch, at least on phone call a week, got it?"

"Yeah, I got it." Ulquiorra replied with a smile.

"Well, what are you waiting for? You said you were leaving." His father said. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes; of course that idiot would want him to leave immediately after he asked permission to go.

"I'll be gone before 9:30." Ulquiorra said bluntly. He gave his mother a small smile before standing and walking up to his room. He had an entire hour and a half to get his stuff packed and out of the house but he knew it wouldn't take that long. He didn't have a lot of cloths because variety wasn't a priority for him. It only took him about 30 minutes to throw all of his cloths and shoes into a big suitcase. After he was done with his cloths he stuffed the rest of his personal belongings into the suitcase. When he was finished with that he called Grimmjow and told him what his father said.

"That was easier than I thought it would be." Grimmjow said as he took the suitcase from Ulquiorra and placed it in the trunk of his car.

"Isn't that the truth," Ulquiorra replied. His mother came out of the house and down the driveway.

"Be safe Ulquiorra." She said as she wrapped her son in a tight hug.

"I promise mom," Ulquiorra replied. She let him go and looked over at Grimmjow with an ice cold stare.

"And you," she stated dryly. "You get my baby in some kind of trouble and I'll wring your neck." She warned.

"Understood," Grimmjow replied quickly. She smiled before turning and going back to the front porch.

"And I thought your dad was scary," Grimmjow whispered to Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra laughed.

The two of them got into Grimmjow car and pulled away from Ulquiorra's house for what they hoped would be one of the last times. Ulquiorra leaned back against the seat and let out a loud sigh.

"What are you thinking about?" Grimmjow asked.

"Nothing really, I'm just ready to start over." Ulquiorra replied, Grimmjow smiled also.

"We're moving in together," Grimmjow said absently.

"I never thought this would ever happen." Ulquiorra said.

"Yeah, me either, but I'm glad it is." Grimmjow said.

"Me too," Ulquiorra replied.

Nel refused to let the two of them leave until the next morning. She even went so far as to hide Grimmjow's car keys and follow him around all night so she could make sure he didn't find them.

The next morning she was a lot calmer, Grimmjow still had to search the house to find his keys because after she went to bed Nel forgot where she hid them. They turned up in the back to the refrigerator in the carton with the eggs.

"She really doesn't want you to go," Ulquiorra said.

"I guess not, but she'll still get to visit us, she even has her own room there." Grimmjow said as he carried his bag over to the front door. The only things Grimmjow chose to bring were the cloths he thought he would need and a couple of extra things he figured he couldn't go without. He didn't think it would be right if he took everything and left his room empty and bare. His mother probably would be able to handle seeing his room like that.

They decided to leave right after they ate breakfast. Grimmjow's mother was crying by the time they actually did leave and Aizen had to cry Nel around to keep her from running out into the street in front of Grimmjow's car.

"Your family is….unique." Ulquiorra said.

"Eccentric is probably a better word," Grimmjow replied with a laugh.

"They really love you," Ulquiorra said in a voice that Grimmjow wasn't supposed to hear.

"They love you too, you're just too blind to see it." Grimmjow said with a smile.

"Did you just call me blind?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Damn, don't tell me you're deaf too." Grimmjow replied with a laugh. It took all of the self-control Ulquiorra had not to slap Grimmjow right in the face for his little joke, the fact that he was driving only helped his case. Instead Ulquiorra just rolled his eyes and looked out the window.

"Ulquiorra we're here." Grimmjow said as he gave Ulquiorra's arm a soft tug in order to wake him up. Ulquiorra opened his eyes and looked out the window again.

"I thought you said this was a town home?" Ulquiorra asked.

"It is, it's just a little bigger than your average town home." Grimmjow replied.

'It little bigger?' Ulquiorra thought to himself as he walked through the front door of the house.

"How are we even going to pay for this?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Aizen said he was going to cover the payments on the house, but we have to pay for the bills." Grimmjow replied.

"Grimmjow…what does your step father do exactly?" Grimmjow asked.

"he has a couple of jobs, the only one a really know about his him being the founder of Sosuke's Sandwich Shop and that in itself is like a nationwide chain or something like that." Grimmjow answered.

"I didn't know the sad sandwich shop made this much money." Ulquiorra said eying the expensive decorations all around the house.

"You would be surprised," Grimmjow said. He grabbed the suit cases and headed upstairs to where the bedrooms were.

"Uh…there are three bedrooms in the house; the master, Nel's room, and another bedroom. Which one would you like?" Grimmjow asked. Ulquiorra looked around at the pictures in the hallway.

"Whichever one your sleeping in." he replied simply. Grimmjow cocked his head to the side and looked at Ulquiorra.

"Seriously?" he asked.

"What?" Ulquiorra replied.

"Yu actually want to share a room with me?" Grimmjow asked.

"Yeah, isn't that what people do when they move in together?" Ulquiorra asked as he walked around Grimmjow to get a look at the pictures that were on the walls at the other end of the hallway.

"You need help unpacking or do you want to do it on your own?" Grimmjow asked as he stepped into the room and set their suitcases down on the floor.

"No, I can handle it," Ulquiorra said.

Ulquiorra wasted no time filling his half of the closet with the cloths that he brought with him. When he was done he grabbed his suit case and lifted it from the bed. When he picked it up there was a loud clanking noise, like something heavy had just fallen on the floor.

Ulquiorra looked down at the ground, a large brass key sat on the floor near hi feet.

"Where did this come from?" he asked himself. He bent down a grabbed the key from the floor. He walked over to the dresser and dropped the key inside a jewelry box that was on top of it and walked out of the room.


	19. Hit Me

Chapter 19

Hit Me

Ulquiorra was surprised by how comfortable the new house was. He thought that sharing the same breathing space as Grimmjow twenty-four hours a day seven days a week would be overwhelming but it wasn't. It all felt so natural, like it was meant to be this way from the very start. But living with Grimmjow did have its drawbacks there weren't many but they defiantly existed.

"Hey wake up!" Grimmjow yelled as he rolled his body from his side of the bed so that he was lying on top of Ulquiorra.

"Do you have any idea how heavy you are?" asked the smaller boy still trying to hold onto the last sheds of the peaceful sleep he was getting.

"Ugh, come on Ulqui, you can't just lay here and sleep the day away." Grimmjow complained.

"Watch me," Ulquiorra replied.

I don't think so," Grimmjow replied. He rolled away from Ulquiorra and sat up on the bed. Instead of going away or going back to sleep he sat down on his butt and used his hands to anchor himself on the bed. He lifted both his legs and placed them on Ulquiorra's back.

"What the hell are you-" before Ulquiorra could finish his sentence he was lying face down on the floor on the side of their bed.

"What the hell Grimmjow!" he yelled.

"I had to get you out of bed somehow." Grimmjow replied. He watched Ulquiorra stand from the floor and straighten out his twisted pajamas before he balled his hands into fists and stomped into the bathroom.

"And hurry up in there we don't have all day." Grimmjow said.

"Shut the hell up, I'm taking as long as I want to!" Ulquiorra screamed in reply.

"Why are we here?" Ulquiorra asked as he stared up at the large sign on top of the door of the building they were standing in front of. It was still really early in the morning and Ulquiorra was still unhappy about the way Grimmjow decided to get him out of bed this morning.

"You need to learn how to hold your own, I'm not always gonna be there you know." Grimmjow replied as he held the door open and allow Ulquiorra to walk in ahead of him.

"So you signed me up for boxing classes?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Well I didn't exactly sign you up, I just called in a favor." He said. On the wall near the door there was a big wall of trophies and championship belts and right in the middle was a group picture. A big buy with spikey black hair and an eye patch stood in the middle with two boys standing on either side of him, but the most noticeable was a little blue haired boy that was standing directly in front of him on a row of his own.

"Is that you?" Ulquiorra asked pointing to the picture.

"Yep, sure is" Grimmjow replied. "I was this gym's pride and joy back then."

"Really?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Yeah, apparently I had a lot of pint-up aggression that needed to be released. My mom signed me up for classes here even though they insisted that I was too small and too young. On my first day in they put me in the ring with a normal kid from the age youngest age group they had." He explained.

"How old was he?" Ulquiorra asked.

"He was 15 maybe 16 and I was 11." Grimmjow answered.

"So what happened?" Ulquiorra asked.

"I kicked his ass and they let me stay, old man ken treated me like his own son and taught me everything I know now." he replied. Ulquiorra looked up at the picture again.

"Is old man ken that guy there?" Ulquiorra asked pointing to the guy in the middle.

"Yep, that's him." Grimmjow said.

"You have the same manic smile," Ulquiorra said remembering the crazed look that Grimmjow had during the fight at school, Grimmjow rolled his eyes.

"Ha, look at what the cat dragged in!" boomed a loud voice from behind them, the boy turned around and standing there was the big guy from the picture.

"Old man!" Grimmjow shouted. He released Ulquiorra's hand and gave the other man a friendly hug.

"Eh, who this, your girlfriend?" asked 'old man ken'. Grimmjow looked back at Ulquiorra and smiled nervously.

"I'm not a girl." Ulquiorra said bitterly.

"I obviously knew that," replied with old man with a roll of his eyes. "You don't look anything like a girl from where I'm standing, from the back maybe you'll be able to fool on with bad eyesight but mine isn't that bad he said with a shrug.

"They why do you wear an eye patch?" Ulquiorra asked bluntly.

"Because it looks badass on me." he replied flashing the same manic smile that he was wearing in the picture.

"That's stupid." Ulquiorra said plainly. Grimmjow elbowed him in the shoulder.

"Don't mind him, he gets cranky when you wake him up early in the morning and he doesn't have to go to school." Grimmjow said.

"Well girly, get a move on. We have a lot to cover today." Said old man ken as he turned around and walked away from them.

"I resent that," Ulquiorra said to him.

"I don't give a damned what you do and don't like, get your ass in the locker room and get dressed." He said with a shrug. "You got five minutes." Ulquiorra rolled his eyes as he followed Grimmjow into the locker room to get changed.

Grimmjow opened his large duffle bag and handed Ulquiorra a pair a shorts, a t-shirt, and a pair of boxing gloves.

"You should hurry, when the old man says you have five minutes he really means it." Grimmjow said as he began to change his own cloths. Ulquiorra watched in amazement, he had never seen Grimmjow move that fast before.

After they were done changing they walked out of the locker room and over to the ring where the old man was waiting for the two of them.

"Hey kid, are you unhappy or does your face look like that all the time?" asked the old man. Ulquiorra rolled his eyes. "Prick," he added in a low voice

"Wha'd you call me?" Ulquiorra asked nearly screaming. The old man smiled.

"Well alright, that's the fire I wanted to see." He said with a smile. "Now let's not waster anymore time, You, Mr. impending doom, get in here. And Grimmjow will you please fix his cloths."

Grimmjow walked over to Ulquiorra and tucked his shirt into his shorts. He then grabbed Ulquiorra shorts and proceeded to fix them. He folded the top over itself and pulled the draw strings as tight as they could go.

"Let me see your gloves." Grimmjow said to him. Ulquiorra held his hand out and watched as Grimmjow tightened the strings on his gloves and helped him into the ring.

"Now that you're properly dressed and in the ring I can introduce myself. My name is Kenpachi Zakari, but since my name is so long you can called me sensei." Said the old man, Ulquiorra nodded. "Tell me your name." he demanded.

"Ulquiorra Chifer." Ulquiorra replied calmly. Kenpachi smiled in his very threatening manias type of way.

"Now we can begin." He said. He walked over to Ulquiorra and stood directly in front of him.

"Give me your best shot." He said.

"What?" Ulquiorra asked.

"You heard me, hit me as hard as you can right here." He said as he touched the spot in the middle of his forehead.

"Wouldn't that hurt you?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Don't worry about it, I'll be alright. But in order for me to teach you, you're going to have to show me what you can do." Kenpachi replied. Ulquiorra lifted his arm and touched his glove to Kenpachi's forehead.

"Come on, you can his a little harder than that can't you?" Kenpachi asked.

"I don't like hurting people." Ulquiorra said to him.

"Why not?" Kenpachi asked.

"Because I know what it feels like," Ulquiorra replied. "And I don't want anyone else to feel like that without good reason."

"But how do you feel?" Kenpachi asked.

"What do you mean?" Ulquiorra asked.

"When you look at yourself in the mirror and see the cuts and bruises he's left behind?" he asked as he paced a circle around Ulquiorra. "When he grabbed you and pushed you down, threw you up against walls, kicked you while you were down. That didn't make you angry?"

"Yes but-"

"But what, I don't see any buts in this. If someone was beating the shit out of me on a daily bases there are tons of things that I would feel, and none of them would end with but." Kenpachi said.

"I bet that there wasn't anything going through his mind when he was kicking you around like his personal punching bag, but this isn't about him; it's about you." Kenpachi stopped. "Now tell me, what did you feel?"

"I was angry." Ulquiorra said.

"What did you feel like doing to him? All those times when he was hurting you, you ever thought about hurting him back?" Kenpachi asked.

"Of course I did." Ulquiorra replied. "But I couldn't."

"Why?"

"Because I wasn't strong enough." Ulquiorra answered.

"And that's where I come in." Kenpachi said.

"What?" Ulquiorra asked.

"I'm going to make you strong, so that if he ever comes back you'll be ready for whatever bullshit that stupid ass has planned." He replied. Ulquiorra nodded.

"Okay," he said.

"Now that we're finally on the same page, we can really get started." He said, he stood with his feet shoulder with apart and his hands behind his back.

"now I need you to think." He said. "I want you to go to the place you go to when he treats you like shit. When he pushing you around and calling you names. I need you to be in that place."

"What do I need to be there for?" ulquiorra asked.

"because otherwise you would be too timid fight someone with your full strength." Kenpachi replied.

"he does it to everyone ulquiorra, it's easier for you to just give in that to try to go against whata he's trying to show you." Grimmjow said from the sie of the ring.

"Did you have to go through this to?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Go thought it; I invented it." Grimmjow replied with a laugh.

"Yep, it was his first day here, we put him in the ring with Ikkaku. Ikkaku called him a fairy and grimmjow beat him past recognition." Kenpachi explained.

"just like you did the kid at school." Ulquiorra noted.

"I don't have a problem with people knowing that I'm gay but I don't like to be teased about it." Grimmjow replied.

"So you knew way back then?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Of course not, but what boy likes being called a fairy. Even if he is Gay I think that would hurt anyone's feelings." Grimmjow replied. Ulquiorra nodded.

"Hmm, I wonder what your dad called you." Kenpachi said looking directly at Ulquiorra.

"Too bad you'll never know." Ulquiorra replied.

"Yeah, that's too bad." Kenpachi replied. "I bet it was something creative" he said as he started to walk circles around Ulquiorra again.

"It wasn't." Ulquiorra replied listlessly.

"He mustn't have been too smart then…he probably just callout out the things that he saw." Kenpachi said. Ulquiorra shrugged.

"Probably called you stud like Dumbass, shrimp, pest, or maybe even a waste of space." Kenpachi said as he continued to walk around Ulquiorra, eyeing the small boy's every move. Ulquiorra tightened his fists as he continued to stare a hole in the floor beneath him.

"Or he could have called you a pansy, maybe a fairy, or a bitch." Kenpachi continued. Ulquiorra looked up from the floor and threw Kenpachi a stare that was deadly enough to evaporate him where he was standing.

"Oh, did I hit a nerve?" Kenpachi asked.

"No," Ulquiorra replied bluntly.

"I think I did." Kenpachi replied with a knowing smile.

"You didn't." Ulquiorra repeated.

"So then why did you look at me like that when I said the word bitch?" Kenpachi asked.

'Stop that fucking noise! I don't remember raising a little bitch for a son, she the hell up with all that crying!' his father's voice rang out in his head.

"I just don't like that word." Ulquiorra replied.

"Which one are you talking about?" Kenpachi asked.

"You know which one I'm talking about." Ulquiorra replied.

"Whelp, I think I found it." Kenpachi said.

"Found what?" Ulquiorra asked.

"The spark to your fire," Kenpachi replied. "You don't like being called a bitch," he stopped midsentence and took one large step over to Ulquiorra. "Almost as much as you don't like being call scrawny," He whispered into Ulquiorra's ear.

Ulquiorra sidestepped away from Kenpachi in an effort to create some kind of distance in between the two of them.

"You, don't like that word either huh?" Kenpachi challenged. "I wonder how you would react if I called you a scrawny bitch?"

Ulquiorra looked away from him and back to the floor in a desperate attempt to keep calm. He had never been so angry at someone in his life, and what made things worst was that this man knew him. He could see right through every wall Ulquiorra tried to put up and that made him even more annoyed. Each time he tried to shut himself away from the overbearing old man he just came back even harder with a different insult that drove Ulquiorra even closer to the end of his sanity.

Kenpachi continued to walk circles around Ulquiorra calling him a scrawny little bitch and other variations of the same insult.

"Hey! Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Kenpachi challenged, but by this time all Ulquiorra could see was red. Kenpachi reached out and grabbed Ulquiorra by the wrist from behind. Ulquiorra turned around and threw a punch with his right hand.

"Damn," Grimmjow hissed from the side of the ring.

"Damn kid, you might be small but you're stronger than you look." Kenpachi said holding the eyes that wasn't covered with an eye patch.

Ulquiorra didn't reply he just stood there staring daggers at Kenpachi.

"Good job, now let's try it again." Kenpachi said immediately moving on to another subject.

"Again?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Yeah, there's still a lot that you need to learn." Kenpachi replied simply.

The spent the four hours working on these so called basics that Ulquiorra needed to learn.

"Really how helpful is this really going to be?" Ulquiorra asked.

"How to you expect to learn how to defend yourself if you can do something as simple s a pushup?" Kenpachi asked as he sat directly in front of Ulquiorra watching his every move. Ulquiorra bent his arms and brought his body down just inches from the floor then pushed himself back up again.

"Wrong, do it again." Kenpachi ordered.

"What do you mean wrong?" Ulquiorra asked.

"These are ninety degree pushups, when your body is at its lowest point your arms should create a right angle. Your arms were bent enough, do it again." Kenpachi commanded. Ulquiorra huffed before he tried again.

"That was perfect." Kenpachi praised.

"Can I stop now?" Ulquiorra asked completely exhausted.

"You still have nine more before you're done with your first set." Kenpachi answered.

"I wanna go home," Ulquiorra whined.

"And you defiantly can, as soon as you finish the basics." Kenpachi said simply. Ulquiorra put his forehead down on the floor and let out a sigh.

'I'm going to kill Grimmjow when we get home.' Ulquiorra thought to himself as he pushed his body from the floor again and got ready to finish his first set of pushups.

"Are you hungry?" Grimmjow asked as he sat down on the bench next to Grimmjow.

"Hungry isn't the word." Ulquiorra said.

Ulquiorra felt absolutely destroyed. They spent almost 5 hours working on these so called basics and they weren't even finished yet. All Ulquiorra managed to finish was three sets of pushups and 10 minutes of jumping rope. Kenpachi walked over and handed Ulquiorra a cup filled with a think brown liquid.

"What the _fuck_ is this?" Ulquiorra asked.

"A protein shake, we gotta put some meat on your bones somehow." Kenpachi replied.

"Grimmjow I want real food," Ulquiorra complained.

"It is real food, just in a cup." Grimmjow replied. "After a while they start to not taste as bad." Ulquiorra frowned before he placed the cup to his lips and took a sip. He wanted to spit it out but he knew that Kenpachi would probably make him do more pushups if he did that.

"Eww! THIS IS DISGUSTING!" Ulquiorra yelled. Grimmjow laughed

"The first one is always the worst." He said.

They didn't leave the gym until 10 o'clock that afternoon and let's just say Ulquiorra was more than happy to leave.

"I hope you learned something today kid," Kenpachi said as he watched the two men walk out the front door.

"Sure I did; I learned that I am never doing another pushup ever in my entire life." Ulquiorra replied simply as he walked over to the door. Grimmjow said his goodbyes to the man with the eye patch and they walked out of the building.

Ulquiorra walked over to the car and laid his body against it. Grimmjow walked over and unlocked the doors; before Ulquiorra could open the door Grimmjow relocked them. He started to laugh when Ulquiorra sank down to the ground with his face still plastered against the side of the car.

"I don't have the energy to play Grimmjow, I just want to go home and take a shower." Ulquiorra said to him. Grimmjow smiled with amusement before he unlocked the doors and allowed Ulquiorra access to the car.

"So how do you feel?" Grimmjow asked. Ulquiorra didn't reply, he just gave him a look that told him not to ask any more questions.

Ulquiorra leaned his body against the door and looked out the window. he made a game out of counting the people walking on the sidewalk whenever the car came to a stop sign and was stationary long enough for him to get a good count of the people outside of their car.

After that got boring he turned his attention to the other cars around them. There were two red cars, one white one, and a black SUV directly behind them. at the next traffic light one of the red car took a right turn and headed in another direction; that left 3 cars around them. Grimmjow got into the far left lane and took a right onto another street way from the rest of the cars, all except for the black SUV. I was the only car that was still with them after they turned, in fact every time they turned or changed lanes the black car continued to follow them. The black car behind them was really starting to make Ulquiorra nervous.

"Are you okay?" Grimmjow asked. Ulquiorra let out a sigh when he saw the black SUV take a right on the street just before their house and disappear into the distance.

"Nothing." Ulquiorra replied. "Just watching the cars go by."


	20. Watching Me

Chapter 20

Watching me

"Kitty, come play with Nel!" screamed the small girl as she ran around in front the bench Grimmjow and Ulquiorra were sitting on. It was their second weekend in their new house and Grimmjow promised Nel that Monday that she could come and stay the weekend with them. Today was Friday and it didn't look like Nel had any intentions of slowing down anytime soon.

"Okay, we can play for a couple more minutes but it's almost time to go and get something to eat for dinner." Grimmjow said to her before she pulled him away by the hand. Ulquiorra stayed behind on the bench and watched the two of them playing on the jungle gym.

Ulquiorra looked down at his watch; they had already been playing for ten minutes.

"I don't know why I can't shake this feeling." Ulquiorra said aloud to himself as he looked around at the other people at the park. No matter where he was or what he was doing he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him.

There were about six kids at the park other than Nel and four couple sitting on other benches watching them. There were two girls running around on a long sidewalk with their little fluffy brown dogs on pink leashes.

Ulquiorra turned to the parking lot and counted the cars sitting there. One black car, two green cars, one white minivan, and a black SUV in the corner of the parking lot, Ulquiorra's heart thudded loudly in his chest when he saw the black SUV parked in the far corner of the parking lot where no one was supposed to be looking. The windows were so heavily tinted that Ulquiorra couldn't see who was sitting inside the car from this distance.

"You ready to go Ulqui?" Grimmjow asked. Ulquiorra turned around to see Grimmjow holding Nel by the hand.

"Yeah," Ulquiorra replied with a small nod.

The three of them made their way from the park to the nearest fast food establishment. Grimmjow went through the drive through and ordered what seemed like enough food to feed an entire army.

"Why do you always order so much food?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Because I like to eat," Grimmjow replied simply.

"I know that but you always order too much, it's a waste of money." Ulquiorra said.

"it's mainly because she's always sleeping when I go through the drive through, and she never wants to eat the same thing so I have to get more food to compensate for her indecisiveness." Grimmjow said as he pulled into the driveway of their house.

"You're such a nice brother." Ulquiorra replied with a smiled as he grabbed the bags at his feet. Once he was out of the car he grabbed the drink and Grimmjow grabbed Nel from the backseat.

"Is she even going to wake up to eat?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Yeah, she'll wake up when we get inside the house, she always does." Grimmjow replied.

He was right, as soon as they stepped foot in the house Nel eyes popped open and she looked around the room. it didn't take long before she was running around the living room like she wasn't sleeping five minutes before.

"Hmm, it's a good thing we got in when we did." Grimmjow said looking out of the window in the kitchen.

"Yeah, it's raining pretty hard out there." Ulquiorra said as he listened to the heavy rain beating against the roof of the house. "The forecast didn't say anything about rain today." He said.

Grimmjow went over to the table and started clearing away the mess that Nel had created while she was eating.

"Come on Nel, it's time to take a bath and get ready for bed." Ulquiorra said to the small girl. She nodded and before running up the stairs to the bathroom.

"How do you do that?" Grimmjow asked.

"I don't know; she just listens." Ulquiorra replied. He walked over to the small lamp in the living room and turned it off, he then went over to the window to close the blinds.

"It's raining so hard all of a sudden," Ulquiorra said as he peered out of the window into the darkness.

"No, it can't be." Ulquiorra murmured to himself as he leaned closer to the blinds straining his eyes to see through the darkness of the night and the blinding rain. Sitting there on the other side of the street directly in front of his house was the same black SUV. It was the one from the other night and earlier that day. Ulquiorra backed away from the window and pulled the blinds closed as hard as he could.

"You alright?" Grimmjow asked. "You look a little scared."

"No, I'm fine." Ulquiorra replied. "I need to get upstairs before Nel floods the bathroom." He said before he turned away from Grimmjow and disappeared up the stairs.

"So you see them too huh?" Grimmjow asked turning a small glance to the window before he went back into the kitchen to finish cleaning.


	21. Found

Chapter 21

Found

"Where the fuck is it!" screamed the old man as he continued to throw random objects around his son's room. "I know that little prick didn't take it with him." he fumed walking in circles around the otherwise empty room.

"Yo! Toba, you find it yet?" asked another man as he walked into the room to find his very disgruntled friend sitting on the bed with his head in his hands.

"No I don't see it, I know I put it in here." He said standing again and going over to the dresser. He started ripping draws form the dresser and throwing them across the room.

"We need to find it bro; Cain is looking downstairs right now. Are you sure it's in here?" he asked.

"Yes I'm sure it's in here. I know where the fuck I hid the key Shota!" he yelled.

"So, where the hell is it?" Shota asked.

"He took it, he had to, that little bitch took my key!" Toba yelled.

"Well you know, if you don't find they key we won't be able to get the box open." he said.

"Obviously you dumbass," Toba replied.

Two more men walked into the room but didn't say anything. They stood by the door and waited for Toba to finish yelling at Shota.

"What do you want?" he spat at the two men standing by the door.

"Boss, we found your son." Said one of them simply.

"It's about damned time." He said pushing them out of the way so that he could walk out of the door.

"So what are you going to do now boss?" he asked.

"What the hell do you think; we're going to get my key back." He replied.

"The house is going to be so quiet without Nel there to liven it up." Ulquiorra said as he climbed out of the car and walked up the small path to their front door.

"Yeah, but I think that we deserve some peace and quiet after the weekend we just had." Grimmjow replied with a laugh.

Ulquiorra stopped in front of the door.

"Grimmjow," he said quickly.

"What?" Grimmjow asked as he slowly made his way over to where Ulquiorra was standing. "What the hell." He said stepping around Ulquiorra to get to the door that was almost hanging off the hinges from being kicked in.

"Stay out here." Grimmjow said to Ulquiorra before he walked through the already opened door and into their house. After a few minutes inside Grimmjow walked back outside and told Ulquiorra that it was alright, and the house was empty.

Ulquiorra walked in and looked around. All of their pictures had been ripped from the walls; their dishes in the kitchen were pulled from the cabinet and thrown on the floor.

"Did you see anything missing?" Grimmjow asked.

"No, but I see a lot of broken stuff." Ulquiorra replied as he stepped over a broken vase to get to the stairs.

"Whoever did this must not have been trying to take anything, because they broke everything in the house that has any real value." Grimmjow said.

"They were looking for something." Ulquiorra replied plainly. He went up the stairs and into he and Grimmjow's room, compared to the rest of the house this room too little damage. Their cloths were pulled out of their closet and the mirror on their dresser had been smashed to pieces.

"What do you think they were looking for?" Grimmjow asked.

"I don't know," Ulquiorra replied. He went over to the side of the bed and got on his hands and knees.

"What are you doing?" Grimmjow asked.

"I think I know what they were looking for." Ulquiorra replied. He stuck his arm underneath the bed and started fishing around under there. He felt around on the wooden supports that held their bed up.

"What?" Grimmjow asked.

"This," Ulquiorra said as he pulled the key from under the bed.

"What's that?" Grimmjow asked.

"This key fell out of my bag when I as unpacking, I think this is what he was looking for." He answered.

"He? Who is he?" Grimmjow asked.

"My dad, he's found me." Ulquiorra replied.

"What makes you so sure?" Grimmjow asked.

"The way that everything is thrown around except for the things in the drawers, whoever he was with must have stopped him before he pulled them out and started throwing them around." Ulquiorra replied.

"So he did all this for a key?" Grimmjow asked.

"I don't know what it goes to but it has to be important if he went through all this to find us." Ulquiorra replied.


	22. Try Me

**Chapter 22**

**Try Me**

Ulquiorra's father, Toba, sat in the passenger seat of an all-black SUV staring intently out the window. The two lackeys in the back seat were fingering through a thick folder filled with record papers and pictures.

"This Grimmjow kid is something else." Said one a them.

"Six years of boxing classes and a lifetime of emotional problems to fuel whatever rage he might need. He's really a piece of work." said the other.

"He sounds pretty dangerous." Said another one of Toba's servants who was sitting behind the wheel of the car, the four men's conversation completely stopped when they saw Ulquiorra, Grimmjow and Nel walked out of the grocery store and over to Grimmjow's car. Together Ulquiorra and Grimmjow went to work moving the groceries from the buggy to the trunk of the car. Toba sighed.

"It's a shame that someone so young will have to suffer for someone else's stupidity." Toba said coldly. He snapped his fingers and the servant on the driver's side started the car and pulled out of the parking lot after Grimmjow.

Later That Night

"Can you read Nel a story?" Nel asked as she stared up at Ulquiorra with big green eyes. Ulquiorra smiled as he pulled the cover up over her and tucked her in. he turned on the night light and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"What story do you want to hear?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Make on up." She replied.

"Make what up?" Grimmjow asked as he walked in and laid himself down on the floor next to Nel's bed.

"A bedtime story," Ulquiorra said to him. He nodded and the room went silent again.

"Sure we can do that." Grimmjow said with a smile.

"Okay, I'm ready." Nel announced.

"Alright, I got one-"before Grimmjow could finish his sentence there was a loud thud from downstairs followed by the sound of breaking glass. Grimmjow sat upright on the floor like an attack dog that had just been alerted by an alarm of some kind. He quickly got up from the floor and tiptoed over to the door.

"Ulqui," He said sternly.

"Yes?" Ulquiorra answers

"Stay here with Nel." Grimmjow said; Ulquiorra nodded in answer. Grimmjow opened the door and walked out of the room, closing it quietly behind him.

Grimmjow walked over to the top of the stairs and listened to the sound of people running through his house and throwing things around.

"Damn, you guys don't even have the decency to knock before you come into someone's house?" Grimmjow asked as she walked down the stepped with heavy feet. As soon as he reached the bottom he was taken by both of his arms and dragged into the living room.

"Is there something I can help you guys with?" Grimmjow asked the two men who were proceeding to tie him down to a chair.

"Yes, as a matter of fact you can," said another voice. I looked up to see Ulquiorra's father staring daggers at me from across the room. His eyes were so cold and dead.

"So that's where he gets it from." Grimmjow thought to himself as he stared up into the cold eyes that he recognized so well.

"And what is that?" Grimmjow asked.

"Where is he?" Toba asked.

"Where is who?" Grimmjow asked; Toba scowled.

"Don't play games with me." Toba warned

"I'm not too fond of games sir." Grimmjow replied. The man in standing in front of him cocked a sinister smile.

"That's a shame because I know the perfect one for us to play." He snapped his finger and one of the lackeys that were standing behind Grimmjow went over to him and placed something into his hand. "They call it Russia roulette, you know how that works right?" Grimmjow didn't answer

"You don't have to; I like to switch the rules around anyways. Instead of playing on an empty barrel loaded with only one bullet, I like to play with a full barrel with only on blank." Said the man as he stepped over to Grimmjow and placed the front end of the gun to his forehead.

"if you don't tell me where my son is right now I'm going to point the walls with the inside of you skull." He threatened. Grimmjow looked up at him and smiled.

"I call your bluff." Grimmjow said. Toba took a small step back and removed the gun from his forehead.

What happened next was fast, Grimmjow had never seen anyone move like that before. The man standing to his left slumped forward and hit the ground with a loud thud, his blood soaking the carpet underneath him.

"Try me." Toba said with a confident smile


	23. Tying Ropes

**Chapter 23**

**Tying Ropes**

Ulquiorra hugged el to his chest to quiet her sobs. Her tears were seeping through his shirt making the damp fabric stick to his skin.

"Ulqui, is kitty okay" Nel asked.

"Kitty is perfectly fine Nel." Ulquiorra replied as he tried to forget the very distinct sound of a gunshot that had just rang through the house. Grimmjow was alright, he had to be. If he wasn't then his father would be upstairs looking for him and he wasn't, so that meant that Grimmjow was okay.

"Are you sure?" Nel asked.

"I promise he's okay." Ulquiorra said, Nel buried her face into Ulquiorra's chest again. He could help but cry with her, he knew that he was probably wrong and Grimmjow could very well be dead but he had to hope for the best. He wrapped his arms around Nel and lifted her from the bed. he put her into the closet.

"What is ulqui doing?" Nel asked.

"We're playing a game." Ulquiorra replied.

"What kind?" Nel asked.

"It's like hide and go seek but, you can't come out until I tell you that it's okay." Ulquiorra said. Nel nodded and smiled up at him. "And if someone comes in here to get you and it isn't any of us don't leave with them unless?"

"Unless it's a policeman with a badge," Nel answered. Ulquiorra smiled and nodded. "I'll be back Nel." He said before he closed the door on the small girl and walked out of the bathroom and into the hallway.

Grimmjow

Toba stared down at Grimmjow with a scowl.

"Give me my key." Toba said to him.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about." Grimmjow said. Toba cocked the gun and pointed it down at Grimmjow.

"Don't fuck with me okay! I know you and that little prick stole my damned key and I want it back!" he screamed.

"I don't know what key you're talking about, the only keys I've seen around here are the ones that start me car." Grimmjow said. "…well, what the keys go to, I'm sure if you tell me I can help you find it."

"You got 5 seconds to hand over the key before a blast your brain out! 1!

"You know there's always one thing the guys like you forget" Grimmjow started.

"2!"

"You surround yourself with people who aren't as smart as you are." Grimmjow continued.

"3!"

"You can control them, but it never works out." Grimmjow said.

"4!"

"They always fail to complete the simplest tasks, like tying ropes." Grimmjow said.

"5! You time is up!" Toba yelled. The gun fired again. Toba looked again and Grimmjow reached up and grabbed the large man sitting next to him by his shirt.

"Bad judgment and reflexes," Grimmjow said as he pushed the large man's body from his lap and stood from the chair. If you would have pulled the trigger a little sooner I probably would have died."

"Don't get cocky yet, I still have two more bullets left." Toa replied with a wicked smile. Grimmjow smiled back.

"You have two bullets but what about me?" Grimmjow asked.

"You don't have any weapons in here, we checked the first time when we broke into your house." Toba said confidently.

"Bad judgment reflexes and hearing," Grimmjow said shaking his head, "I never said I had a weapon."'

Toba turned in just enough time to see Ulquiorra thrust a lamp hard into his face. The glass shattered and Toba fell to the ground with a loud thud. Grimmjow crouched down and touched a finger to the man's neck to make sure he was still alive. He looked up at Ulquiorra and smiled.

"My mom really liked that lamp," he said to Ulquiorra who only rolled his eyes.

"It's the only thing I could find." Ulquiorra replied.

"Did you call the police?" Grimmjow asked.

"They're already on their way." He answered.

When the police and the ambulance arrived they removed the two bodies from the living room and hauled Ulquiorra's father to the hospital. After being checked out and released by the doctor he was taken directly to prison.


	24. Safe

**Chapter 24**

**Safe**

"Are you okay Ulquiorra?" Grimmjow asked as he exited the courtroom alongside Ulquiorra.

"55 years," Ulquiorra said softly. "He's gonna be in there for 55 years." Grimmjow was silent as he and Ulquiorra made their way back to his car. Once they were inside Grimmjow removed his tie and slid his jacket off of his shoulders. He threw them both into the back seat and started the car. Ulquiorra laughed.

"What?" Grimmjow asked, Ulquiorra didn't answer he only laughed harder.

"What's so funny?" Grimmjow asked.

"Nothing is actually funny," Ulquiorra said after he had managed to calm down, "I just don't know how react, I've never felt this way before."

"You've never felt what way?" Grimmjow asked.

"….safe. I feel safe." Ulquiorra replied with a smile. Grimmjow smiled back.

"After all you've been through you deserve it." Grimmjow replied.

"There's one more thing I have to do Grimmjow." Ulquiorra said listlessly.

"And what is that?" Grimmjow asked as he continued down the street headed away from the courthouse.

"I need to go back home and find out what this key goes to." Ulquiorra replied.

"Damn, I thought you would never say that. I've been waiting to see what that damned thing opens for weeks." Grimmjow replied as he turned left at the stop light and headed in the direction of Ulquiorra parent's house. Everything was still in the same place it had been when Ulquiorra left the first time.

The two of them searched the whole house for everything with a lock on it but found nothing that the key would fit in. every lock was way too small.

"This is the last room." Ulquiorra said as he tried to push the key into another too small lock with no success.

"What about the attic?" Grimmjow asked.

"We have one but it's completely unusable." Ulquiorra answered. "Anything up there would fall right through the ceiling."

"The basement?" Grimmjow asked.

"I've never gone down there," Ulquiorra replied.

"Why not?" Grimmjow asked.

"There were spiders." Ulquiorra answered.

"Really? Spiders?" Grimmjow asked.

"They're big ass spiders" Ulquiorra replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Let's look in the basement then." Grimmjow said as he led the way down to the lowest and dirtiest point of the house.

"Ulquiorra, I can't walk with you clinging onto me like that." Grimmjow replied trying to release his arms from Ulquiorra's tight grip.

"Can we just look for this box so that we can get out of here?" Ulquiorra said as he looked around t the dust and cobwebs all around the room. Ulquiorra let go of Grimmjow and started to look around the room. After another hour of looking through the mountain of boxes they still found nothing.

"Hey Ulqui." Grimmjow said suddenly

"What?" he asked turning around to face him. Grimmjow threw a fuzz ball the size of a golf ball at Ulquiorra.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Ulquiorra yelled. As he flicked the fuzz ball off of his cloths, Grimmjow laughed and shook his head.

"You should have seen your face," Grimmjow said.

"Shut up, it looked like a spider when you threw it." Ulquiorra said.

"What was going through your mind when you saw it?" Grimmjow asked.

"Did this asshole really just pick up a spider and throw it at me," Ulquiorra replied with a small smile.

"Well the reason I called you is because of this." Grimmjow said moving a few boxes out of the way of reveal a large trunk. It was punched back into the corner and covered with a blanket so no one would be able to see it.

"I think this is what we've been looking for." Grimmjow said.

"We won't know until we try this." Ulquiorra said as he stepped over to the trunk. He pushed the key into the lock and turned it.

"It opened," Grimmjow said softly.

"Ulquiorra! Grimmjow! Is that you down there!" called his mother's voice from the top of the stairs.

"Yes mom, it's us!" Ulquiorra yelled back. Her quick footsteps could be heard coming down the steps and into the basement.

"What are you guys looking at?" she asked.

"This is what dad was looking for." Ulquiorra replied. His mother stepped over and stood directly behind him.

"What's inside?" she asked her tone suddenly serious.

"Ulquiorra grabbed the lid and pushed it open. Ulquiorra sat back on his legs and started going through the box. Inside was brick after brick of powdery whip substance wrapped in about ten layer of plastic wrap.

"What is this?" Ulquiorra asked.

"It's drugs," Grimmjow replied. "Don't open any of it."

"Why would I open it?" Ulquiorra asked.

"This was why he was so crazy over finding it," his mother said.

"He must have been taking this stuff on top of all the drinking and smoking." Ulquiorra said.

"Is that all that's in there?" his mother asked.

"It doesn't look like it," Ulquiorra replied as he reached back into the box and removed the four large blocks of white power covering whatever was at the bottom of the box.

"No way," Grimmjow said, leaning forward to see fully into trunk.

"He may have been an idiot but he's really good at hide and go seek." Ulquiorra said as he grabbed one of the large rolls of rubber band wrapped paper that sat in the bottom of the trunk.

"How much do you think is in there?" Grimmjow asked.

"I couple thousand maybe," Ulquiorra replied.

"What are you going to do with it?" his mother asked.

"What do you mean what am I going to do with it. This isn't mine." Ulquiorra replied.

"It is now." his mother replied.

"But, what about you?" Ulquiorra asked.

"I think that I'll be pretty comfortable living on my own with just my savings." His mother said. "I won't be missing any of that."

"How much do you have saved?" Ulquiorra asked.

"I've been putting 50 dollars of my paycheck into a saving account since before you were born. After I sell this place and get rid of your dad's stuff I'll be just finding." She said to him. Ulquiorra nodded.

"Then that's exactly what I'll do with this." He replied.

"What?" Grimmjow asked.

"I'm going throw these drugs away, close this box and we're going to take it home. We can put it in the closet in the spare room and we don't have to touch it until we need it." Ulquiorra said.

"Rainy day trunk," His mother said. Ulquiorra nodded.

"exactly." Ulquiorra replied.

"If that's what you want that's what we'll do." Grimmjow said wrapping his arm around Ulquiorra's shoulders.


	25. Real Happiness

**Chapter 25**

**Real Happiness**

Grimmjow stepped into the house and placed his bag down on the floor. He removed his shoes and closed the door behind him. He walked into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Ulquiorra.

"Grimmjow what are you doing?" Ulquiorra asked, he dropped the sponge into the sink full of water and turned around to face him. Grimmjow pressed his lips against Ulquiorra's before backing away and moving to the other side of the kitchen.

"Are you cooking dinner tonight?" Grimmjow asked.

"I cooked yesterday, we're eating cereal tonight." Ulquiorra replied.

"Good," Grimmjow replied.

"Why?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Because we don't have to worry about watching the food," He said as he moved closer to the Ulquiorra and slid his hands around Ulquiorra's hips.

"Stop Grimmjow!" Ulquiorra said pushing him away.

"Why what's the matter?" Grimmjow asked.

"You know I have ticklish skin." Ulquiorra said punching away from him again.

"So you're ticklish?" Grimmjow asked. Ulquiorra grabbed a fork from the skin and spun around to face Grimmjow.

"Don't even think about it," Ulquiorra worn.

"And just what are you doing to do with that?" Grimmjow asked with a smile.

"I'm going to stab you," Ulquiorra replied.

"You don't have the guts." Grimmjow replied.

Ulquiorra pocked Grimmjow in the chest with the fork, it wasn't a hard jab but it was hard enough that it made Grimmjow take a step back and touch the spot where Ulquiorra had stuck him.

"Now you're gonna get it." Grimmjow said to him.

"You have to catch me first." Ulquiorra replied. He dropped the fork and sprinted out of the kitchen. He ran through the living room and up the stairs. Ulquiorra was fast but he never ran at his full speed when Grimmjow was chasing him. if he did then there would be absolutely no chance of Grimmjow catching him.

"Don't go easy on me just because you think I can't catch you." Grimmjow said as he lifted Ulquiorra from the floor and walked into the bedroom, kicking the door shut behind him.

"If I don't go easy on you, you won't catch me." Ulquiorra replied with a smile.

"You sure are happy aren't you?" Grimmjow commented. As he gave Grimmjow a soft push, forcing him down on the bed.

"What do you mean?" Ulquiorra asked, giving no resistance to Grimmjow's forcing him around.

"I've never seen you smile so much before." Grimmjow replied as he positioned himself on the bed so that he was hovering closely over Ulquiorra.

"I am happy?" Ulquiorra replied. Grimmjow leaned down and kissed Ulquiorra again. "This has to be what real happiness feels like."

Author's note: well that's it guys, the end is here but the story isn't over. I'm going to be starting a sequel soon so be checking for that.

New story title: Finding you


End file.
